His Hero Academia
by Sherlock D Holmes
Summary: Bakugou Katsuki is selected by All Might as his new successor while Izuku continues his dreary existence as a Quirkless aiming to become a hero. After one day finding out that his childhood bully was gaining everything Izuku ever wanted, he finally crosses the line and takes matters into his own hands. Quirk!Izuku, SplitPersonalities!Izuku.
1. Chapter 1 - There Goes My Hero

Chapter 1

"...Izuku... Izuku! Are you listening?!" A voice snapped. A hand attached to a piece of skin flew out of the teacher's hand as he chopped Izuku's head, violently attracting his attention.

Izuku looked up, eyes bleary, pen in his hand as the teacher interrupted his jotting of notes. The teacher gave him a disapproving scowl.

"Please save your studiousness for academics, Mr. Izuku," the teacher reprimanded. Izuku nodded timidly as the rest of the class cast scowls and glares his way.

"Creepy Midoriya."

"Quirkless Deku."

The murmurs eventually died down, but Izuku nonetheless felt downcast at the class' collective disapproval.

"Now, class! As third years, it is your duty to think about your future and how you will benefit society. Your career tests have returned, but I'm sure you'll all want to take the hero courses, right?" the Teacher smiled, causing the entire classroom to cheer and exhibit their quirks. "Remember that you aren't allowed to use your quirks during class-time!" The teacher reminded them.

"Hey, teach!" yelled an arrogant teenager, feet on his desk and hands in his pocket. "Don't group me with these punks! They're nowhere near where I am!"

"Hey!"

"No fair, Bakugou!"

"Shut up!"

"HAHAH!" Bakugou cackled at their whining. "You should shut up like the extras that you are!"

"Hey, you're shooting for U.A, right?" One student called out. Bakugou replied with a laugh.

"Only the best for me!"

"Hmm..." The teacher hummed. "Mr. Midoriya is also vying for the same high school," the teacher added. The temperature of the room dropped as everyone turned their head slowly to stare at Izuku in disgust.

And then the school bell rang, which was the teacher's cue to leave. His parting words were to complete the homework before the class only had students left, packing their bags to leave. Bakugou and two of his minions stuck around, waiting for Izuku who was almost finished packing his bags. Just as he was to insert his hero notebook into his bag, Bakugou snatched it from his hands.

"What do we have here?" He said as he turned all the pages with his thumb.

"G-give it back, Kacchan!" Izuku protested. Bakugou sneered at him he closed the book with both hands, then spontaneously exploding the notebook, slightly charring it.

"Still want it back, Deku?" Bakugou sneered. Izuku swallowed his saliva as he stared wide-eyed at the charred book. He still reached for it, but Bakugou simply tossed it to his nearest friend, who tossed it out the window.

"Out of the park!" The boy shouted. Izuku gasped, eyes filling with tears.

"Aww, don't worry, Deku," Bakugou set as he put a hand on the poor boy's shoulder, the heat almost scalding Izuku's skin. "Just give up on becoming a hero, because you know that I'm the only one who's got what it takes, got that?" Bakugou asked. Izuku shivered as he looked at Bakugou's furious eyes. "I... didn't... hear... you!" Bakugou yelled, causing Izuku to flinch.

"I... I-..." Izuku begun to stutter, much to Bakugou and his posse's amusement. "I... don't get it, Kacchan!" Izuku yelled. Bakugou and his friends were stunned by his reply. Bakugou's shocked face returned to its original sneer as he prepared to administer punishment.

"Oi, Deku, time to-"

"You're being the villain, Ka-Katsuki!" Izuku prodded. His words did have an effect on Bakugou as he glared daggers at Izuku like never before.

"Villain? I'm preventing you from dirtying the name of heroes, you fucking quirkless! Someone as powerless as you is working so hard to become a hero. Do you know how much the sheer futility of that pisses me off?!" Bakugou yelled. Izuku simply shook his head.

"No matter how much you try to rationalize this, Katsuki, ask yourself this... 'Would a hero do this-'" What interrupted Izuku was a fist planted on his cheek.

"Stop talking, fucking Deku!" Bakugou spat. Izuku was reeling towards a desk, holding it for balance. "Let's go, guys," Bakugou said as he began to walk away briskly. Before leaving, he turned around to give Izuku a cold glance. "I know how you'll get a quirk. Just take a swan-dive off the window and pray that you'll get one in your next life." With that, he walked away.

Izuku swirled his tongue around the inside of his mouth, tasting blood. With a sad look, he took his bag and went to the bathrooms to get the blood off his mouth.

PLUS - ULTRA

"Fucking Deku thinks he's hot shit," Bakugou grumbled. "Who the fuck does he think he is?" he cursed. He had already departed with his two friends and was currently walking alone. As he was passing beneath a bridge, he continued his tirade with abandon.

"I'm tryin' to save his putrid life. He's never gonna make it. He's an eyesore. I'm doing him a favour!"

A shadow loomed behind him as he continued to mutter and curse.

"Villain? I should have given him more punches for that one. He'd have deserved it, that fucking magg-UWAH!" A slimy entity engulfed him as he struggled to get loose.

"Ooooh, heheheheh! What a strong, young body... This sure will be a nice vessel," the slime spoke as it materialized a mouth where Bakugou's mouth was. Bakugou kicked and sceamed, trying to scrape away the slime on his face, suffocating him. Occasionally, he'd use his quirk to blow away some of the slime, but it due to the risk of self-injury, he didn't do this too often. The slime was impervious to physical attacks as his hands just kept phasing through it. Bakugou felt the hopelessness of the situation, but fought on nonetheless. He couldn't accept dying in such a place.

Minutes passed as the slime did its level best trying to possess Bakugou, but the boy was ridiculously tenacious. "Why don't you go to sleep, explody-boy? EHAHAHAHAH!" The slime cackled. "There's no way you will survive this. Just let it go, cuz I can't hold it back anymo-"

"DETROIT SMASH"

A strong gust of wind crashed onto Bakugou, scattering the slime from his body. He fell to his knees and began to gasp for air, breathing feverishly. He looked up to see the imposing figure of a blond and large muscular man.

Suddenly, it clicked.

"All Might?!" Bakugou was absolutely awestruck, eyes wide and mouth gaping.

"It's alright! Because... I'm here!" All Might assured as he flexed his enormous biceps, much to Bakugou's sheer awe and shock. "I've got to say, sonny: You sure did well there. With such perseverance, you can be sure to become a hero one day!" All Might encouraged. Suddenly he flickered, then reappeared with two bottles filled with dark green sludge. "I'll have to take this to the police station. You be a good boy! Stay in school and grow up to become a good citizen!" All Might prepared for a jump.

In the last moment, he felt something clutching at his legs, but it was too late. He had already jumped.

PLUS - ULTRA

Izuku felt horrible.

He didn't know if it was the pain in his cheek, the fact that his notebook was both charred and wet, or the fact that Katsuki hit him, but Izuku couldn't deny his misery.

The stunt that he pulled was one that he could hardly believe. He spoke out. He never ever had the mind to do that, especially not against the abrasive Bakugou Katsuki.

Of course, Izuku would have never pulled that stunt if it wasn't for a self-improvement book that he had read the night before. Now that he thought about it, he never should have tried anything.

Izuku arrived home in the afternoon. He managed to dress his wound and make sure to face his mother with reassuring eyes as he lied to her once again about how he had an accident while playing with 'Kacchan'. Speaking of which, reverting to calling him Katsuki was actually something that took even him by surprise. Nevertheless, he shrugged as he lumbered over to his computer, opening up a few quirk discussion forums online.

A rather _odd_ link caught his eye.

"Wanted telepath for villain group?" Izuku asked himself, scowling. "That sounds stupid."

As he was browsing, a certain discussion caught his eye.

'Illegal quirk research has discovered the ability to grant quirks to the quirkless!'

Izuku did a double-take. The soda can he was sipping on crunched as his grip tightened like a vice. He immediately clicked on the link and read the whole thing in search for... something!

Most of the contents were empty speculations and circumstantial evidence, while there were also plenty of hyperlinks spread here and there. Izuku clicked every single one in search for additional information.

Unfortunately, what came up was a bunch of 404s and 502s, thus cutting his search short.

...but, never let it be said that Izuku couldn't internet properly. He exited his browser and selected another browser named TOR, booted it up and entered the 'special forums', which were basically forums that only granted access to those who participate and enrich discussions in the surface web's version of the forum. Aside from additional, fact-checked information, it also had a directory to more... discreet forums and others not entirely... legal per say.

Izuku entered the directory and opened at least ten of the tabs, all transporting him to the login page of each forum. Beneath them was an 'appeal to mod' button which he clicked, filling out a form. Eventually, all the ten websites answered back within minutes, all requiring the referral of someone from within, which Izuku didn't have. He gave an annoyed glare at the seemingly unanimous decision that all ten of his forums came to. He returned to the forum that he had access to and began to look through the chatrooms for anyone that might also be a member of those ten forums.

After looking for long enough, a member of the forum "KoseiKo" reached out to him, most likely because if he had access to that forum, then he probably wasn't a law enforcer, or even if he was, there was nothing explicitly illegal about KoseiKo. Just the information, and the forum couldn't be held accountable, not that the webmasters could ever be tracked. Izuku gladly received his referral and returned to that specific forum, entering the login that the mod had provided him after being referred by a trusted member of the forum.

So far, Izuku still hadn't crossed the boundary of something overtly illegal.

The KoseiKo forum was exactly how Izuku would imagine. Shady. It was extremely minimalistic and hardly looked like something within that century. The text was plain, the background color was black and the sidebars were chock-filled with all sorts of chat-rooms categorized after their topics. Izuku swallowed heavily as his eyes glossed over the phrase 'Cheese Pizza'. He continued until he found a 'Rumors' chatroom. Although vague-sounding, it was enough as no other topic fit Izuku's quest as much as that one.

Entering it, he began to type about the 'illegal quirk research' that he spotted earlier but stopped when he read the chat log, as that topic was already prevalent. All sorts of images and videos were posted, and Izuku viewed almost all of them.

The pictures described the interior of the research facility, which was extremely back-alley for a lack of better terms. The brick walls were bare of any wallpaper, and mildew grew between each brick. The tools were also rusted and dented. Izuku silently wondered how these pictures were even taken. He began to type a question.

'Any leads on the location? Evidence of actual artificial quirk manifestation?'

A moment later, a reply came from a certain 'ComaZzz'.

'PM me here:...'

The user posted their private message chatroom, which Izuku clicked on. Immediately, he began to pelt the user with all sorts of questions.

'Is it true?'

'Are there pictures?'

'What kinds of quirks?'

'Emission and transformation only, right?'

'Can anyone do it?'

Izuku fired the questions in rapid succession. For a minute he waited. And just like that, a reply came.

'Are you prepared to die? To lose your mind?' They asked. Before Izuku could reply, the images came.

Horrid, terrifying images of people with their skin melted off, gifs of people gouging their eyes off, only for them to regrow in an endless cycle, someone with their anatomy inverted, lying on the floor, breathing erratically before stopping for good.

Then, a video-file came up. Izuku was absolutely terrified, tears threatening to leave his eyes. With a hand covering his mouth, he clicked the video-file, downloaded it and watched it.

A young girl sat on a chair, completely naked in a dimly-lit room, the building dilapidated. Her arms were strapped to the arms of the chair with brown leather belts, and so were her feet. She couldn't have been more than twelve years old. She was absolutely unable to stop crying, the tears cascading down her cheeks. 'P-please...!' she would plead.

BLAM

A gunshot wound formed on the girl's forehead. She was dead. Izuku almost fell from his chair. Just as he was about to exit, the chatroom's ping sounded.

'Watch on... if you dare'

Izuku swallowed his saliva and opened the video again, continuing to watch. Weirdly enough, there was no blood escaping her head. Instead, the bullet oozed out of the wound on her forehead, the wound itself healing at an abnormal rate.

A voice behind the camera sounded: 'Trial 10 complete. Test subject 665 has consistently healed. Test subject 665 confirmed to have an autonomous Internal Organ Scrambler quirk which saves her from death by displacing her internal organs, and she also possesses some characteristics of a healing quirk. Any comments?' Asked the experimenter. The test-subject, still crying, opened her mouth to speak.

"I-I've seen... my... head... hurts... to think..."

'Test subject 665 has experienced brain damage. Initiati-'

Whatever the experimenter was going to say, Izuku would never know as he exited the video, deleted it, and then again once it was in his recycle bin.

'If you're that desperate for a quirk, come to me again.'

Izuku exited the browser entirely, went to the toilet and hurled up his lunch violently, eyes teary and nose snotty. "Not... worth... it!" Izuku wheezed. "They're... so... evil!"

Afterwards, he went out for a stroll, mulling over what he had found.

"What is their end-goal...? Why are they... doing this? They're villains... I spoke to a villain..." he murmured, eyes wide. "Are they seeking to commercialize this once it's safe? Are they going to publicize the technology to the general public? What's... going to happen to the test subjects...?" Izuku couldn't help but worry as he kept on thinking about every possibility. A part of him hated himself for ever going down the rabbit hole, but another still felt that it was his last hope, unless a quirk could just fall from the sky.

"I should report this to the police... but... they already know, most likely... the pictures had no way of revealing the location... the video itself could be used as evidence once the group gets prosecuted. I should send it in... I'll do it tomorro-"

A slime monster appeared behind him, hugging him as it began to engulf his entire being. Izuku began to panic, kick and scream with all of his might. The screaming sounded for a moment before the monster stifled it, but someone had already heard it. By then a crowd of people surrounded the monster and Izuku. The kicking and screaming continued.

PLUS - ULTRA

Bakugou Katsuki was many things. Proud, arrogant, abrasive and a sore loser could not even describe half of his character traits, but what nobody ever thought he could ever be was humble.

Before All Might could make his exit, Bakugou latched onto his legs as they were both launched together onto a nearby rooftop, there Bakugou put his knees, hands, and forehead on the floor, kowtowing to All Might.

"TAKE ME AS YOUR STUDENT, DAMMIT!" Bakugou roared. All Might was practically stunned, but he knew the clock was ticking.

"Shit..." All Might mumbled under his breath. Suddenly, the entire rooftop became engulfed in smoke. Bakugou, confused, looked up at the clearing smoke, seeing All Might, now in a more skeletal form.

Bakugou ground his teeth in annoyance. "What?!" He stood up to approach All Might, hands crackling. "You fucking fake!"

"Hold it there, boy," All Might boomed still in his anorexic form. "I am the real All Might!"

Bakugou showed no sign of stopping as he continued forward with renewed vigor. "Like hell you ain't! I'll kill you!"

Just as Bakugou was to throw a punch, All Might deflected his right blow easily, stepped back in time for the left blow, then stepped forward to deliver a palm slam on Bakugou's chest, causing him to spit, coughing violently as he fell down. "It is not nice to attack out of sheer anger. That's unbecoming of you as a potential future world leader," All Might berated him.

Bakugou ceased his coughing as he looked up at All Might, who now dragged his shirt up, revealing a flower-patterned wound on his stomach.

"What..?" Bakugou asked, dumbly.

"Six years ago, I sustained a heavy wound. I am barely capable of keeping my hero form for three hours a day, and that's pushing it. I am All Might, but I will not be for long," All Might sighed. Bakugou looked at him in absolute shock and horror. Then came a phrase he had never uttered even once before.

"I... I apologize..." Bakugou said, with almost teary eyes. "All Might!"

At that, All Might couldn't help but smile a little.

"You clearly hold me in high regard. Do you wish to become a hero?" He asked. Bakugou nodded.

"Please take me as your disciple!" Bakugou yelled. All Might chuckled, spitting out some blood in the process. The sight caused an ugly wound in Bakugou's heart to form.

"You certainly have the spirit... and the raw talent... Tell me... What is your name?" He asked.

"Bakugou Katsuki! I will become the number one hero!" Bakugou declared. All Might clapped at his declaration.

"I cannot take on a disciple. I apologize for disappointing you. But... you're on the right track. Remember to never lose your heroic spirit. Always strive to help others. That is the definition of a hero!" All Might declared. Bakugou looked dejected at his rejection, but nonetheless, there was a fire in his eyes.

"Fine... If you won't take me... I'll carve my own way to the top... like you did," Bakugou said, standing up briskly.

Eventually, once they both got down from the building and left to their own paths, Bakugou headed homewards. Just then, he heard a familiar scream from somewhere. Instinctively, he ran towards the sound, finding a crowd of people down the street. He pushed himself past them, looking for the epicenter of their attention.

Then he saw it.

The monster that almost killed him...

...Currently killing his childhood friend.

Then he remembered how he grabbed onto All Might. The bottles must have fallen out of his pockets.

It was his fault.

Deku was dying, and it was his fault.

"He's been like this for the last minute or so!" A random civilian provided. Bakugou looked around to see if there were any heroes. All the heroes present were keeping their distance, analyzing the situation.

Desutegoro, the Punching Hero, was at a complete loss as to what to do.

"The grip on the boy's too strong. I'm afraid I can't yank him out without hurting him, too, and who knows what the boy is capable of resisting?"

Kamui Wood was eyeing Mount Lady.

"Any chance you could gigantify and take him out like that?"

"Property cost would be disproportionate to the task fulfilled," Mount Lady argued. "Dammit, if we could just lure him away... at this rate, we'll have to wait until we find someone with a good enough quirk."

All the while, Bakugou's eyes kept darting around, trying to keep an eye out for a hero.

"DO SOMETHING!" Bakugou yelled furiously. Someone next to him gave him an annoyed glare.

"They can't, idiot! It's a hostage crisis! The boy could die!"

Bakugou ground his teeth. He could see the heroes Backdraft, Mount Lady and Desutegoro convening as Deku was being suffocated. 'That weakling won't last as long as I did... he could actually die!'

Then, Izuku's eyes locked themselves on Bakugou's in the crowd. Bakugou and Izuku locked eyes there and then. For a brief moment, Izuku's eyes flashed with fear, but then became comforting, giving Bakugou a half-grin, as if telling him not to worry. Bakugou was stunned by this.

'Why don't you hate me... Deku..? Dammit... It's all my fault... It's all...'

Bakugou leaped into the fray.

"MY FAULT!" he roared. The slime monster spotted Bakugou, stunned as the boy ran towards it. Bakugou threw his backpack at the slime before excavating the slime in front of Izuku's mouth. Izuku was given a breath of fresh air then, almost overwhelming him. The slime became furious as it tried to encompass both boys, but Bakugou warded off the encroaching slime tendrils with his explosion quirk.

"K-Kacchan...?" Izuku was stunned. Bakugou simply continued to excavate him as quickly as he could, but he knew it was an impossible task. Bakugou refused to lock eyes again, only focusing on his task at hand. The sewer monster then began to rotate rapidly as he threw Bakugou against a wall, causing him to cough up some blood. He could feel that one of his ribs were broken and it hurt to breathe, but he tried to stand regardless. Wiping blood from his mouth, he glared at the monster.

"HEY KID, YOU COULD DIE! GET OUT OF THERE!" Desutegoro, the hero with the large black and yellow striped bracers, and the open blue vest yelled.

"Get out of there!" Mount Lady yelled. Bakugou paid none of them head as his hands began to crackle behind him.

"Let go of him... Let go of Izuku!" Bakugou roared. The slime monster rushed towards Bakugou, planning on ending the resistance once and for all. Bakugou in turn prepared for an explosion that could severely injure him.

Before any of them could exchange any blows, All Might appeared, in his heroic form, warding off the sewer monster.

"Sit tight, Young Bakugou... for I am here!" All Might proclaimed. Bakugou was stunned by his appearance. Then, with almost surgical precision, he shoved his hands into the slime, pulling out Izuku by his shirt, placing him gently on the ground, where he began to wheeze. "I will make sure that you get sentenced, you scoundrel!" All Might proclaimed as he arched his fist back for a punch.

"Delaware... SMASH!" All Might yelled furiously as he gave the slime an uppercut so strong, he nearly vaporized it. The force of the blow traveled upwards, creating an updraft.

Silence.

A small piece of the slime was left. Its face. It tried to slither away, but All Might was too quick. He grabbed hold of the slime and brushed it off, revealing a jagged gem that was colored green. He held onto that, believing it to be the center of the slime monster.

Then, it began to trickle. The trickle turned into a light rain which eventually began to ease the tension.

Then the crowd began to cheer. Bakugou looked over at Izuku, who was gasping on the floor, his ribcage contracting and expanding rapidly. A trace of pity could be found in Bakugou's eyes before he looked over at All Might, who was seemingly about to fall, but with effort, he stood straight and raised his arm. Bakugou only noticed his difficulty because of what he said earlier, which caused his heart to clench slightly. 'That idiot...' Bakugou muttered under his breath.

Eventually, All Might disappeared once again. Izuku, the victim, was being congratulated for his bravery and his tenacity, while Bakugou was being chided by the heroes for his reckless and rash actions. Bakugou took the reprimands like a champ and stood there motionlessly until he was dismissed. Then, he simply picked up the notebooks spread around the ground from when he threw his backpack and headed home, half-inspired and half-dejected.

Then, on his path, he saw All Might jump in front of him.

"It's me!" All Might yelled, causing Bakugou to stagger, wide-eyed. All Might laughed, easing Bakugou's trepidation, which quickly turned into annoyance.

"What, are you here to reprimand me, too? Or congratulate me for my bravery?" Bakugou sneered. All Might shook his head.

"I was going to flick you on the forehead," All Might corrected. Bakugou was about to raise his guard, but All Might was too fast, moving in at the fraction of the blink of an eye to deliver a light flick across the boy's forehead, causing him to yelp in pain.

"THAT HURT!" Bakugou complained. All Might laughed again. "Why did you do that?"

"I'm in charge of you, after all!" All Might laughed. Bakugou stopped to stare into All Might's eyes.

"W-what...?" Bakugou stuttered.

"That's right!" All Might said before he bent a knee, placing his hand on Bakugou's shoulder. Then, he deflated into his Small Might form. "You're looking at your new teacher. You've caught my eye, Young Bakugou. You wish to become the number 1 hero... you have the spirit and talent of a potential superstar... you could very well be the symbol of hope that Japan needs after I inevitably disappear."

"What?! Why did you change your mind?" Bakugou asked. All Might explained.

"The top ten pros always have stories from their school days about performing a heroic deed. They all have a common trend. 'My legs were moving on their own'. That is clear evidence that you deserve to become the number 1 hero. You deserve to succeed the torch that was passed down to me and truly cement your status as a symbol of peace. My quirk!"

Bakugou was absolutely stunned. All Might, sensing this, continued.

"Do you wish to succeed the One For All?"

PLUS - ULTRA

Izuku heard everything.

On his way to thank Katsuki, he stumbled upon him speaking to All Might of all people. He remembered seeing him rescue him during the sewer monster episode, but didn't have the energy to properly thank him. Seeing All Might stand there was sure to attract him. Only...

He seemed to be talking to Bakugou. He immediately backtracked as he listened in on their conversation, not seeing All Might's transformation.

Then, he heard it.

All Might was taking Bakugou in as his apprentice. Then, something about giving up his quirk, which Izuku only took as symbolism and metaphor. Bakugou agreed, and suddenly, Izuku didn't feel like thanking him anymore. Something about that view just disheartened Izuku intensely.

'The universe gave him enough gratitude to last him a lifetime,' Izuku thought, then quickly berated himself for such a bitter comment.

Izuku went home that day, but there was a gaping hole in his heart. For the first time in his life, he had truly doubted his ability to ever become a hero. The thin thread of hope that he was holding onto was being severed as he spoke and there was practically nothing he could do. He went home once again to greet his concerned mother who hugged him tightly, comforting him with promises of cooking Katsudon for dinner, but not even that could erase the void in his eyes.

Izuku gave one of his well-rehearsed smiles, going to his room to mull over... life.

There, on his bed, he lay. Thinking... pondering... His eyes were utterly emotionless, blank as he pondered the essence of his very existence.

Thus... he came to a conclusion.

Kacchan was right. All Might simply confirmed it to him.

He lacked a quirk. He needed a quirk. He couldn't be a hero without a quirk. It was that obvious, yet the fact always eluded him. He simply needed a quirk.

Izuku pondered on the word 'need'. What truly was a need? Something that would result in his death if foregone? Then, a single sentence came to mind.

'Are you prepared to lose your mind? To die?'

'If you're that desperate for a quirk, come find me again'

Izuku's heart began to beat extremely rapidly as he began to think over everything. His life was dedicated to heroism. He had done all sorts of studying regarding heroics, was years ahead in heroic theory courses, currently doing university level theories, and since his childhood, the concept of being a hero had captured his very being.

'Are you prepared to... die?'

'Take a swan-dive off the window and pray that you'll get one in your next life'

Izuku had resolved himself to death due to heroics long ago, thinking that it was a small price to pay for saving people's lives and bettering them.

'...prepared to die?'

There was nothing in this world that could compare to being a hero.

'DIE?'

Izuku wouldn't, couldn't continue like this. He needed to become a hero. He needed a quirk. Any other existence would be too empty for him. He couldn't bear it. He needed a quirk.

Towards that end, he booted up his computer, entered the TOR browser, entered the scrambled address of the KoseiKo forum that ended with a .onion and reentered a chat with ComaZzz.

Izuku typed in two words.

'I'm in.'

A/N: Let's get things cleared.

No, Izuku won't be getting One for All. Bakugou is.

Yes, he will be developing his own quirk, not that he'll be entirely sane once the process ends.

I'm also having Izuku join Shiketsu High and not U.A for reasons that will eventually be explained. I need OCs of course :)

Name:

Teacher/Student:

Appearance (Hair color, body type[muscular, lean], height, any other features)

Background:

Hero outfit:

Quirk:

Personality:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Additional comments (Dreams, whatnot):

There are around 37 slots left for students and 9 for teachers. I know my story will never explode enough to get that many OCs, but yeah. Classes 1-A and 1-B. 1-A already has Inasa Yoarashi, Camie and Izuku. There will be 20 students per classroom, and I'd say I'd need about 10 teachers in total. There's already a canon teacher so I'm using her. The other nine are up to you.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Kind of Thoughts I Got

Chapter 2

'What took you so long?'

The reply came almost a few minutes after Izuku's. Izuku ignored the sass and simply wrote what he wanted to know.

'Doesn't matter. I want in.'

Izuku bit his thumb as he waited for the reply, which came promptly enough.

' ...'

They posted a hyperlink, which Izuku promptly followed. What met him was a completely white page with nothing but a small bar and an 'enter' button next to it. 'I need a password,' Izuku thought, and true to form, the stranger sent a password which Izuku copy/pasted into the bar, then confirmed.

Then, a page came up. The heading read 'this month's queue'. It was filled with names, and to Izuku's absolute horror, his name was number ten, with all prior numbers except for 9 being crossed out.

'Steady there, tiger. You thought you could get a quirk just like that? Let me give you the low-down on how this works. You die, you die. You survive, but just barely while sustaining crippling damage, we kill you. You live, and you'll have to fulfill one service. Don't even think about betraying us. How can a newly developed quirk compare to any of us?'

Izuku blanched as he typed something with shaky fingers.

'Who is number ten?' Izuku typed, trying to bluff them.

'Don't make me laugh, Izuku-chan. Don't worry. You're not bound to this. Once your name is the only one unchecked, I'll simply give you our address. First, however, you need to send us your information'

Izuku frowned.

'How do I know you won't take advantage of that?'

Izuku drummed his fingers on his desk as he waited for a reply.

'Do you want a quirk or not?'

Those words were enough to tip Izuku over the edge. Just as he was about to type it in, they replied.

'Save it. You live in...'

Izuku couldn't help but blanch at this. 'How did they know?'

Izuku began to type furiously.

'Lives alone with Midoriya Inko'

Izuku froze.

'How do you know these things?'

Izuku couldn't even drum his fingers. He was in complete anticipation as he waited for the reply.

'We have our ways. Are you trying to say that you weren't going to reveal those factoids anyhow?'

Izuku shook his head before writing back.

'I would never have written my mother's name'

'Didn't have to,' the user replied. 'We already know your address. A quick search in a census database for Tokyo could reveal exactly what I needed. Listen. We already know everything about you. I hope that's enough to spook you into fulfilling literally only this condition: **Don't snitch** '

The bold letters made Izuku swallow.

'I can pull out whenever I want?'

'Whenever you want, Izuku-chan'

Izuku was still uneasy about it.

'We will contact you once number 9 is through. For now, I suggest you live your life to the fullest, for it might get cut short any moment, provided you follow through, which you don't have to.'

Izuku read the message twice, the implication of it dawning on him. He sent one last message before retiring to his bed.

'Are you people villains?'

A minute. Two minutes. Five. Then a reply came.

'I know this might seem a bit suspicious, especially after that quick succession of the 'results' that I shared with you. We're not that bad. Everyone came to us on their own volition. They told us not to stop until they get the results. They were resolved to die. Even that girl I showed you. She... was an unfortunate case, but she was completely clear-headed when she agreed to our terms. Remember, we'll kill you if you turn into a vegetable, if anything for your own good.

We're not doing this for a greater good. We also don't want to fuck honest people over. This is the middle ground. If you still want to call us villains, then we'll just call you an accomplice XD'

Izuku could barely fathom how they tried to rationalize the fact that they were committing murder and torture. Without another word, he laid his head on his pillow and went to sleep almost instantly, sleeping more peacefully than he had since Bakugou started to bully him. He felt a nice sense of finality like the coming days were going to be big, like a festival. There was a reason to celebrate.

PLUS - ULTRA

The days passed in a haze. Bakugou had stopped bullying him, going as far as to tell people to cut it out whenever someone bugged Izuku.

"Quit bugging _Izuku."_

"You guys aren't cool at all _,_ picking on someone defenseless."

"Hero wannabes."

Such comments could be heard, and the denouncement of each case of bullying directed towards Izuku helped keep the boy unscathed for the foreseeable future. Izuku didn't mind, however. He went through the days, empty and aimless, taking notes as usual. Even his hero analysis notes stopped being added to. No matter how much Bakugou tried to look away, he could see the difference between the bumbling and lost Izuku from a few days ago and the dejected and hollow Izuku today.

Bakugou didn't want to make it his business, but he couldn't. He knew that there was only one reason why Izuku could be this dejected.

He almost died.

And who's fault was that again? Bakugou hadn't stopped beating himself up over it. 'What kind of hero gets other people killed?' Bakugou couldn't help it.

Thus, he resolved himself to have a heart to heart with De-... _Izuku._ He hoped that it might have an effect on the hollow husk that used to be Midoriya Izuku.

Once the last school bell rang, Izuku began to pack his bags almost robotically, wearing that blank expression that had become his trademark over the past week. Once everyone was out and only Bakugou and Izuku remained, he closed the door and faced Izuku, whose face didn't falter even once.

"Are you going to bully me again?" Izuku asked. Bakugou couldn't help but blow through his nose violently.

"Your... No, De-...Izuku," Bakugou tried to correct himself. "P-please... sit down," Bakugou said. The whole etiquette thing was still hard to get down, but he'd be damned if All Might wasn't beating it into him.

Izuku did as told and sat down on his chair without much preamble. Bakugou dragged a chair from another desk and sat opposite to him.

"What's the matter?" Bakugou began, after calculating what kind of opener could get Izuku to open up the most.

"Nothing permanent..." Izuku said. Bakugou raised an eyebrow at that.

"Oi, what's that supposed to mean?" Bakugou raised his voice.

"It's exactly what it sounds like. Nothing permanent."

Bakugou clenched his fist, raising it while gauging Izuku's blank expression, and much to his surprise, Izuku wasn't affected by the show of force at all.

"I-Is... Is it about... the sewer monster episode?" Bakugou ventured to ask, frowning.

"It's more than that..." Izuku said. Bakugou arched an eyebrow.

"What do you mean more than that?"

"You're going to become the number one hero while I'll forever remain the quirkless. I can't even become a hero. Is that what you wanted to hear, Bakugou?" Izuku said. Bakugou grimaced, but before he could even reply, Izuku stood up and trailed towards the door.

"Deku, wait!" Bakugou shouted. Izuku stopped momentarily. "A-about that... I-I've... I've said some... ugly things," Bakugou had a complicated expression as he said those things, biting his lips, scowling, and unsure of what words to use.

"And I'm guessing All Might has taught you all this etiquette," Izuku cut in, much to Bakugou's shock. "Don't worry. You go on your yellow road to the number one spot. And one last thing: ten years of bullying doesn't get rectified in a single statement," and with that, Izuku disappeared through the door, leaving a shell-shocked Bakugou.

Izuku made a beeline for home, not bothering to greet anyone on his way. Once home, he gave a rehearsed smile to his mother and headed upstairs to his room to check the chat.

Nothing.

Izuku sighed. 'One more day of living, I guess' Izuku thought. He reached for his backpack which had a 14th notebook, this one titled Quirk ideas. On them were written a multitude of quirks, ranging from his father's quirk, which was the ability to blow fire, and his mother's being reduced telekinesis. From there, he began to develop on different types of quirks, using them as a subset.

Izuku theorized that the quirks couldn't come from nowhere and that they were most likely extracted from genetics since there was a high probability that there were some quirked individuals within a quirkless human's family tree.

Pyrokinesis, Telekinesis, Magnetism, and the list went on. Izuku stared at the notebook. Aside from his mother and the chat with ComaZzz, it was the only other thing that mattered in this world for him. Even that conversation he had with Bakugou couldn't really scathe him. He only wanted to leave so he could check his chat and see if the word had come of his turn.

He had to be realistic. If he received a weak quirk, and that was a high possibility, he needed to utilize technique to the absolute fullest, making sure that he could still become an accomplished hero, like those with non-destructive quirks such as Sir Nighteye or Eraserhead.

That was, if he could survive, which he most likely wouldn't.

PLUS - ULTRA

Days turned into weeks as Izuku continued his dreary lifestyle. By now, his mother and several of his teachers were worried for him. His grades had taken a dip, too, and he didn't murmur like he usually did, which did indeed serve to worry most of his class, who were now casting him looks of pity and apology instead of annoyance and scorn.

Though no one was as affected as Bakugou was. He had a rough idea of what was going on, and couldn't shake the feeling that he was responsible for it all. The accumulation of his bullying, the fact that he got manhandled by a slime monster in public and how Bakugou was hitting it big were obvious factors as to why Izuku would feel this deflated, but he still felt like he was missing something. There was this... feeling of finality whenever he looked at Izuku grin slightly whenever he went home like it might have been his last day in school.

Izuku could notice how Bakugou was becoming slightly more muscular as weeks passed. The always-arrogant and brash Bakugou was replaced with a stern, no-nonsense but considerate valedictorian who kept up the image of a star student. His teachers were happy at the new change, but couldn't help but draw parallels between this and Izuku's withdrawnness.

Izuku tried not to care, but couldn't help it. He trudged on, not looking down as he repeated the same routine of waking up, going to school, coming back home, and checking the chat to see if it was his turn yet.

This time, about a month since he began this trip down the rabbit hole, his date of rebirth was finally set.

'Test subject 9 experienced partial success but had to be terminated. Keyword: Partial. Come over anytime you want, Izuku-chan. Here's the address, by the way:...'

Izuku stopped and looked at the address, feeling so clear-headed for the first time in what felt like forever. He vowed that he would go there by tonight. He would either die or have the potential to become a hero. It was a win-win in this case. There was no other option for someone with his conviction.

He set the date for 7 O' Clock tomorrow. It would be his rebirth. He gave a silent apology to his mother. It wasn't like he didn't think about her. He simply realized the futility of living for somebody else. Izuku had some claim to happiness. If his mother couldn't understand that, then did she really love-.

'ENOUGH' Izuku immediately ended that train of thought, veering it to something else, like the kind of quirk he's getting, which will most definitely be emission or transformation.

PLUS - ULTRA

Izuku woke up, having slept like a brick. The sun was shining through his blinds, and he was just completely content!

He woke up and ate his breakfast with gusto, thanking his mother for such a meal. Once he ran all the way to school, he sat down, prepared his stationery with a smile and waited patiently. His colleagues cast weird stares at him.

"Did he... finally snap out of it?"

"Can't say it's not good to have him back."

"At least it's over."

The revelation of a smiling Izuku brought some semblance of happiness into the classroom. Once Bakugou walked into the classroom, he instinctively looked at where Izuku would sit, stunned as he saw the boy smiling.

Then, he saw it.

His mouth was at a fixed grin, but his eyes flickered. Did they try hiding something that seemed like... _excitement?_ Bakugou was pushed forward by someone behind him, unwittingly having blocked the entrance.

"Ah, sorry, Bakugou!" A student said, scared of the boy. Bakugou gave him a slight grin, his eyes still as sharp as ever, doing nothing but scaring the student.

"Don't worry about it, Uemi," Bakugou said. The student simply nodded and bolted for his chair, much to Bakugou's disappointment.

The smile continued.

Izuku felt energetic, even during P.E class, having beaten his own sloppy record in every sport, reducing himself to a sweaty and overworked wreck. Bakugou did nothing but observe the boy, lost.

When the final bell rung and everyone were rushing home because it was Friday, Izuku took his time to look around the classroom, taking it all in one last time. This, however, did not go beyond Bakugou's notice. His anger having finally reached its limits, he lashed out.

"What's the matter with you?!"

The ones who still hadn't left the classroom were frozen by Bakugou's roar. Izuku looked towards Bakugou, still grinning like a maniac. "Why are you smiling like that?! Why have you been so quiet all this time?!"

Bakugou looked around to glare at whoever was still in the classroom, sending them scurrying out, then closing the door, but there was still a multitude of people outside, trying to listen in.

"I don't have to worry anymore."

That rang an alarm into Bakugou's head. Immediately, he lunged at Izuku, who simply stood still. He held him by his shoulders, pushing him towards the wall. With his superior strength, Izuku didn't have a ghost of a chance for escape.

"I'll ask this only once. Are you suicidal?"

There. That was Bakugou's logical assumption.

Izuku shook his head. "I have a goal I need to fulfill. Towards that end, I will sacrifice my life if need be."

Bakugou stared at him, shocked at the revelation. "Y-you... still want to... be a hero?"

Izuku nodded, still smiling. "I never stopped wanting to. You simply confirmed how ludicrous my dreams were. You were right, Bakugou-"

"Don't say that," Bakugou seethed at him. Izuku continued, unimpeded.

"You were, though. I'm a worthless quirkless. Without a quirk, how could I possibly ever become a hero, much less the number one? How could I ever imitate the All Might that we both love so much?" Izuku asked.

"DON'T SAY THAT!" He yelled, veins bulging on his neck. "I'm sorry, Izuku!" Bakugou yelled. "For everything," he continued. His grip loosened as he looked down, letting Izuku go. "I've not... been a good person to you..." he said. "I've said some ugly things... I know now that I've affected you in a terrible manner... But... just... don't..."

Bakugou paused, much to Izuku's confusion. Then Bakugou slowly raised his head, revealing a teary face.

'I brought him to this point' Bakugou thought. 'I fucking did it. He's going to kill himself, and it'll all be my fault. Some hero I am. What kind of symbol of hope could I possibly be? What kind of... what kind of friend am I?'

"Don't die, Izuku!"

Izuku simply raised both his hands and dried Bakugou's tears, his expression now blank. "There..." once Izuku finished, he spoke. "Better. Don't cry over me, Katsuki. I'm afraid this has so much more to do than that. I'm afraid you haven't changed my mind yet." Izuku simply walked to his desk, passing Bakugou as he began to collect his books, then walked out of the classroom.

Bakugou was alone in the classroom, with nothing but his thoughts to keep him company.

'I'm not letting him die,' Bakugou resolved himself. 'Not even over my dead body.'

PLUS - ULTRA

Izuku went home quickly, pleasantly surprised at how his mother cooked Katsudon for him, because of how his mood had been lifted. Izuku gave her a bear-hug before digging in, then retiring to his bedroom. It was about six P.M at the time. He looked over at the information on the chat one last time, writing it on a piece of paper. Coincidentally, it was only a few prefectures over, simply requiring about half an hour of bullet trains. The rest of the time could be allocated to him looking for the locale.

Thus, Izuku set out, in the evening, telling his mother that he went out for a jog, much to her confusion. He simply went out with a black sweatshirt and sweatpants, seemingly nondescript, blending into the crowd perfectly.

The commute was short, and once he was out in this strange prefecture, he began to look for the street.

The area itself was a condemned warehouse set for demolition anywhere to next month. Nobody was supposed to live there, which allowed there to be such a large amount of criminal activities going on. As Izuku walked on, trying not to look at the numerous hobos huddled around some fires, he continued searching for the facility described on the sheet of paper.

Eventually, he found it. The building itself was just as shady as any other that he had encountered, but the very fact that such atrocities were occurring within the walls of this facility greatly increased the trepidation that Izuku felt upon gazing on it. Pulling out his phone to check the time, he noted that it was around 6:59, a few seconds away from a seven sharp. Without further ado, Izuku walked in...

...to a well-lit and equipped laboratory with state-of-the-art facilities, sleek white tiles, and numerous apparatuses which was separated from where Izuku actually was: a waiting room. The chairs faced the window on the wall that allowed the view into the laboratory. The waiting room was completely empty, there not even being evidence of someone ever having sat there. The eeriness of it all wasn't lost on Izuku.

He simply chose to take a seat, twiddling his fingers.

Then, he felt a tap on his right shoulder. Scared out of his mind, he swung his head back, only to be greeted by a woman in her twenties, with long flowing pink hair, goggles, and a lab coat.

"AAH!" Izuku yelled. "H-How did you-"

"Quirk!" She sang. "Alright, enough talking, because we're on a tight schedule. This is your last chance to back out, Midoriya Izuku," she warned. Izuku paused for a moment before shaking his head.

"I'm resolved to die or even worse," Izuku said, his voice tranquil. She gave him a comforting smile, putting one hand on his hand, causing him to blush furiously.

"That's cute," she commented. "Come with me!" she said, standing up. They both walked towards the window on the wall, only to phase right through once they made contact. They continued to do this, through several walls and rooms, some with blood splatters on the walls. Izuku did his best to ignore them as they continued on.

"Eh, how come the video I-I saw... had the place look much worse than it actually was?" Izuku asked.

"Misdirection, silly!" She said, tapping her forehead. Izuku looked at her incredulously.

"W-"

"Enough talk!" She said as they stopped at one room with a chair in the middle and huge machines on the other end. "Sit over there. We'll strap you in momentarily," she said. Izuku swallowed as he went over to sit. Then, suddenly, a consortium of people appeared through the walls, all different.

"If it isn't Izuku-chan," A lanky man in his twenties said. He wore a plaid shirt and jeans, but his hair was highly disheveled. He wore thick-brimmed glasses.

Izuku was then strapped in. Giving a tentative pull, he appreciated how his movement has been limited to such an extent.

A woman stepped forward. She wore a suit, a simple pony-tail, and her expression brokered no nonsense.

"Midoriya Izuku. As a preliminary test, we will have to assess your genetic structure-"

"To see what quirks lie in my DNA that can be used, right?" he asked. The lady's lips didn't even flicker. She simply nodded. "Fine," he said.

The girl who led Izuku in told him to say ah, pushing a cotton swab to his cheek, rubbing lightly, retrieving some saliva. She went behind him to insert the findings into a scanner, which would analyze the information instantaneously.

A moment later, a ding came, and a paper was printed. She eagerly took the paper and began to read out loud in front of Izuku.

"Quirks available: Weakened Pyrokinesis (High success rate), Strong Telekinesis (High success rate), Telepathy (High success rate), basic Hydrokinesis (low success rate), super strength (least success rate), basic cryokinesis (moderate success rate."

Izuku spoke up. "Success rates?"

"Oh, yeah! They're exactly what they sound like!" She said gleefully, nodding. "You've got a good lineup if you ask me. I'd go for the Strong Telekinesis. High yield, low risk, you know?" she said. Izuku nodded.

"I was thinking that might have been one of my options. I'm happy," Izuku said.

"Ahem," the stern woman coughed. "Keep in mind that a high success rate in these parts is 20% at best. For every living Izuku, you'd have four dead ones. Keep this in mind," she intoned. Izuku's hope still didn't waver.

"20% is better than 0%," he said. Some even began to laugh, and the stern woman couldn't help but let the corner of her lip wander a millimeter upwards.

"The procedure itself is quick and will require your full consciousness. It will last for about half an hour, but keep in mind that the amount of pain you'll have to endure will be astronomical. You could die from that alone."

"I've resolved myself, ma'am," Izuku replied, not missing a beat. The stern-faced woman looked over at the bumbling doctor.

"Begin operation, Doru," she ordered. Doru immediately stabbed a needle into Izuku's neck, injecting some kind of fluid.

"Injection of quirk factor. If your body rejects it, your journey will end here. It is the true hurdle of this experiment. Once you overcome this, affixing a quirk based on your genetics will be a cakewalk. The quirk factor already injected does have leanings towards Telekinesis. Hopefully, once you survive this, you will still need to offer a single service to us."

Then the pain came. The white-hot pain of a billion fire ants biting every inch of his insides, burrowing through every cubic millimeter of his body, eating and replacing every particle on him. Izuku's throat was hoarse at the time only ten seconds had passed, which attested to the sheer pain which he felt. Izuku convulsed, foaming at his mouth as the process continued, but nonetheless he fought on.

Thirty minutes had passed like that, and the pain was finally letting up. Then, he heard it... a loud roar sounding from outside, and the explosion of a wall in this room. From the giant hole in the wall walked in a single person.

Bakugou Katsuki, red veins coursing through his body looked at the still-living Izuku with relief in his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3 - Well, You My Friend

Chapter 3

Bakugou trailed Izuku to his home.

There was no way in hell that he was going to let the fuck munch simply end himself. He made a call to Toshinori, telling him that he wasn't going to be coming for any of his lessons, and that he had business to attend to, and that he was responsible for something.

Bakugou had a bad attitude, but he never shirked his lessons with All Might. Toshinori understood, saying that he was going to double the workload the very next day. Bakugou sighed at that but resigned himself to whatever was coming.

He ran home, which was closer than Izuku's to school, got changed and continued to follow the boy until he arrived at his apartment, sitting on a tree little ways from it where he had a good view of his bedroom. Into his window, he saw him sitting on his desktop computer, writing down whatever he was seeing on the screen onto a sheet of paper. Once done, Izuku put on some new clothes, causing Bakugou to look away as was common courtesy. Dressing up in all black, Izuku left his home and walked towards the nearest train station.

Bakugou mobilized.

On a bullet train, they both traveled, on different cars. Bakugou wondered why they were going so many prefectures away, and his vigilance rose as a result. From where he stood, he could see Izuku staring listlessly at the window opposite of where he was sitting.

Once the train finally stopped somewhere, Izuku exited, and Bakugou tailed him, making it a point not to reveal himself. The dark streets were dimly lit by irregularly placed street-lights. Bakugou made sure to stay at least two blocks behind Izuku at all times.

Once they arrived at the abandoned store, Bakugou grew suspicious but followed him nonetheless.

Then they arrived at the facility that looked like nothing more than a dilapidated building ready to collapse at a simple gust of wind.

Izuku entered the door. Bakugou ran and entered the door with him, finding nothing... the inside of the building was run-down with broken hardware and cracked walls everywhere. Bakugou felt unsafe simply being there.

"Hello?!" He shouted.

No reply.

"ARE YOU THERE, IZUKU?!" he yelled again, and again... nothing.

Bakugou began to pace around the building, searching everywhere. In a fit of rage, he began to use his quirk to blow up some of the tougher doors or walls.

Then, upon accidentally exploding a whole wall, Bakugou prepared for the creaking that would ensue, but what shocked him was that the building was still as solid as ever.

"Wait..." Bakugou began to think. He placed one hand on the ground and blew it up. Once the smoke cleared, he realized that the ground wasn't even scathed like it wasn't made out of wood, but something much more solid.

Then, he went all out.

"I'm not letting you fucking kill yourself over some bullying, you pussy shit. I'll fucking kill you myself before I let that happen, you hear me? I'll fucking kill you!" Bakugou shouted, explosions ringing all around him.

He was panting. He raised his right arm, clenching his fist while closing his eyes. "The... the egg in the microwave," Bakugou chanted, raising his arm as red veins grew prominent across it.

"Explosion and one for all..." Bakugou muttered. "Fifteen percent Missile!" He shouted, punching the ground, causing a loud explosion.

Suddenly, the room flickered, and he heard it. The room he was in looked to be a janitor's room. He quickly busted out of the door and ran down the hospital-like hallways, closer to what he heard.

Izuku's screams.

Bakugou quickly began to mow his way through the area using both quirks in tandem. Then, as the screams began to die down, Bakugou began to travel faster, pulverizing any obstacle on his way. Finally, the screams died, and Bakugou gave one last punch in rage, hell-bent on finding Izuku and stopping him.

A final smash exploded straight through a wall, creating a gaping hole, and in the room, he saw a group of people staring at him, Izuku sitting in the middle of the room, strapped to a chair, sweaty and nose bloody, but breathing. Bakugou made a beeline for Izuku but was intercepted by a lanky man wearing a plaid shirt.

"Kid has a strength augmentation _and_ an explosion quirk! Clear Izuku-chan for operation!" He said. Bakugou started with a right hook, which the man dodged, as though he knew that it was coming, taking another step back as he activated his explosion quirk to force him away.

There were five villains in the room. One with a lab coat and pink hair was working on Izuku, while two stood guard. A woman wearing a suit was on the sidelines, looking on in anticipation.

Bakugou knew that the man was more skilled and had a deeper grasp of technique, but Bakugou knew what he didn't have. Sheer fucking brute force.

"Ground Zero!"

Bakugou combined a ten percent One for All punch along with his explosion quirk, catching the plaid-shirted man off-guard, or so he thought.

In the last minute, before he could be incinerated, he threw a ball behind himself, erecting a translucent barrier preventing Bakugou's attack from reaching them. The plaid-shirted man gave a smile before getting blown back at the forcefield behind him, spitting blood as he sank, incapacitated.

Bakugou then lunged at the forcefield, activating One for All all over his body, hammering away at the forcefield with wild abandon.

As he hammered away, he watched Izuku convulse and writhe as that pink-haired scientist lady kept prodding him with all sorts of needles and syringes. He could see Izuku crying. He didn't hear anything beyond the forcefield, but he could hear that Izuku was yelling at them to stop.

Then, he shouted for help.

Bakugou doubled his effort.

Then, Doru stabbed Izuku in the head with a large metallic syringe, making his eyes turn lifeless.

Bakugou screamed. He didn't care about his right arm anymore. Now it was _personal_.

"Little Boy!" Bakugou roared. The red veins on his arm were throbbing with power, and his quirk worked on overdrive as he drove that singular fist into the forcefield, shattering it like glass. The explosion penetrated the forcefield and approached the two guarding Izuku and Doru's operation, one obese man and another short but shady character.

The two both did their best to defend. The fat man erected ten transparent barriers which all tore like paper in front of the might of that blast. The shorter man tried to ward the blast off with his hands, using his quirk to reflect the force, but to his chagrin, the amount reflected was pitiful. He became engulfed in the blast as it continued traveling towards Doru.

Just before that, however, the woman wearing the suit appeared right in front of the blast, stopping it in its tracks with an outstretched palm. Bakugou's right arm was limp, broken in various areas, but what scared him the most was the strength that that woman just exhibited.

"How is the boy?" She asked. Doru gave a grinning nod.

"He's showing signs of success!" She reported.

Bakugou didn't waste any more time as he punched with his left arm, releasing another Little Boy at the distracted lady.

"THIS IS FOR IZUKU!" He shouted. The blast forced itself on the lady, who resisted, now with both her hands. The blast ended with her staggering slightly. Bakugou took advantage of this by kicking a gust of wind and explosion towards the woman, using 15% this time simply in order to minimize rebound. The suited lady took a few steps backward. Bakugou cut the distance short by bounding towards her, cowling his legs with One for All as he spun, delivering an explosive kick which she just barely blocked.

Bakugou could feel the repulsive force she was emitting.

"Telekinesis?" Bakugou muttered. He followed up with another volley of kicks which brought her back a few steps.

For every time she blocked his kick, his leg would explode, forcing her back each time. "I WILL KILL YOU!" he screamed, sending another volley of kicks and explosions at her. The woman stumbled slightly on some debris, which Bakugou took full advantage of, kicking her right across her head, causing another explosion for good measure. Half her face was incinerated, blood splattering all over the floor, and some ending up on Izuku, whom she was only a few yards away from. The woman fell and stayed down.

Doru was now finished with Izuku, grinning madly at Bakugou as Izuku began to open his eyes.

"I-Izuku! You're alive!" Bakugou rejoiced. "Hold on! I'll get you out of here! You're safe, now!"

"K-Kacchan...?" Izuku muttered. His arms were purple, his legs were bloody. His shirt was tattered, but he still retained that brash grin. Izuku frowned slightly. "What are you... doing here?" He mumbled.

Bakugou glared at Doru, who blushed, waving at him. Bakugou, nonetheless, lunged straight at him. Just as he was about to kick her, Doru appeared behind her, shoving a syringe right into his neck before he could react, knocking him unconscious.

Midoriya looked at himself. His ankles and wrists felt sore from all of the chaffing. He was bleeding profusely from those wounds.

'Took you long enough to wake up!'

Izuku looked around. Nobody had spoken. In the white room, the only one still standing was Doru and Izuku, but that was a male's voice.

'It's me, you idiot.' The voice sounded again. Izuku swallowed saliva. 'What's... what's going on?!' Izuku thought to himself. 'It's simple. Say hello to your new buddy.'

'M-my quirk...?' Izuku thought.

'Nah, I'm just a side-effect. I'm a mutation. _This_ is your quirk,' the voice said. Izuku closed his eyes...

And opened them, not seeing, but feeling the temperature in the air, the ambient energy. He turned his head to look at the people present. The downed fighters glowed a dull red, as opposed to the floor which was dark blue. Doru, however, was completely black, almost imperceptible if it wasn't for the fact that her surroundings shun with energy.

He could feel and see it all, but was there more to it?

'I wonder...' Izuku focused on the room, trying to manipulate the energy to see if he could. Nothing happened.

Izuku sighed in defeat, but only a moment after, the room began to grow colder.

And colder.

The room became darker, even the unconscious individuals became less sanguine. Nothing happened to Doru, however, her absolute darkness allowing for no examination.

In a point in front of Izuku, the energy began to concentrate, becoming brighter and brighter, no doubt visible to the naked eye. To Izuku's energy-seeing eyes, he made note of how the concentrated energy had wrested all the heat away from the room.

Izuku tried to touch it, despite knowing that it would burn him, enchanted by its beauty. Tears streamed down his cheeks freely as he willed it closer, his hands still tied and unable to reach out.

The orb floated towards Izuku's head, anticipation filling him up every inch of the way.

Once it reached its destination, the orb slipped into his head without resistance, phasing inwards harmlessly. In a sudden burst, the energy circulated around him, liquid pleasure pumping through him with every beat of his heart until it settled somewhere in his midsection, above his navel.

"Marvellous!" Doru shouted with glee as she observed her test subject. "Absolutely stunning! Tell me, Izu-chan! Do you feel any sort of discomfort? Any insanity? Any irritations? Don't worry, we won't terminate you. You're our treasure!" Doru rambled.

"I see energy... but it's cold, so I can barely see much... And I'm hearing this-"

'I guess I should turn it off'

"THIS VOICE!" Izuku yelled, distressed. "WHO IS THIS?!"

"The mutation?" Doru asked, smiling. "I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT!" she jumped around, gleeful. "I KNEW THAT WAS THE REASON WHY WE WEREN'T SUCCESSFUL!" She shouted. Sensing Izuku's confusion, she got to explain. "When we started this little project, we had this bias that mutation quirks wouldn't work because altering someone's entire body would take resources we just didn't have. We thus continued trying to gift emission and transformation quirks with little to no success. I theorized that if I mutated your brain into developing a quirked persona, you'd adapt to your new quirk much easier-"

"He has his own personality?!" Izuku screamed, tears threatening to leave his eyes. "This is insane!"

'sH **uT tH** A fU **C** K **uP,** dEKU!'

"HE SPOKE AGAIN!"

Doru smiled. "This is simply splendid. Now, I want you both to get along. We're going to have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. You take your friend home, Izuku and be back tomorrow, midday, same place. Though I think it's cute that your friend cared about you enough to follow you here, if I ever see him, it won't be a simple knockout serum I'll be injecting in him. It's cyanide," Doru was still smiling.

Doru unstrapped Deku, helping him up, much to his difficulty. Doru, seeing the pain he was in from his bleeding ankles, gave him a reassuring smile. "Tell your mom that a stray dog attacked you. It used to work for me," Doru said. Izuku simply nodded. Doru lifted up Bakugou with one hand, putting him on Izuku's shoulder. Goodbye!" Doru said, tapping at Izuku. Immediately, he ended up outside of the warehouse.

"What just happened?" Izuku asked himself.

'Don't ask me. I was born just minutes ago.'

As he continued walking, carrying the unconscious Bakugou, he heard a large figure falling down right behind him. He looked back to see the imposing figure of his all-time favorite hero.

"A-All Might?" Izuku stuttered. The burden on Izuku's shoulders was suddenly lessened as All Might carried Bakugou, cradling him in his arms. All Might gave Izuku a once-over.

"You're wounded, sonny," All Might said. Izuku nodded. All Might gave a sigh before crouching down. "Young Bakugou... has wronged you, hasn't he...?" All Might asked. Izuku was stunned for a second before simply nodding. "While... while I know that the apology should come from him, I think that young Bakugou feels very remorseful. I hope that you can understand this, and show it by... not attempting such a stunt again... got it?" All Might asked. Izuku began to nod feverishly.

'I fucking hate him already!'

Izuku tried to ignore the voice.

"You're a long way from home, sonny. Grab onto my back. I'll take you back," He said. Izuku complied, scaling the bulky man's back, holding onto his neck. Then, All Might jumped.

Izuku buried his face on All Might's back, crying.

"Aren't you curious about my relationship with Bakugou?" All Might asked.

"I knew..." Izuku replied. All Might gave a light chuckle at that. "All along. I saw you take him in... Kacchan..."

'...Is a fucking psychopath, what kind of hero would he make?!'

Izuku ground his teeth.

"I'll make sure that Bakugou changes. He has raw talent. My focus on him isn't his strength, but rather his attitude. I have seen how he is. I'll make sure that he becomes a man that you're capable of forgiving, young boy. I give you my word of that,"

'I'll be the judge of that, you Japanese superman rip-off.'

PLUS - ULTRA

Izuku arrived home. Knocking on his door, he saw his mother, worried sick about him. The moment she saw the wounds on his wrists and ankles, she blanched.

"Oh, Izuku!" She gasped, giving her a bear-hug. For the first time in forever, Izuku gave his mother a genuine smile.

"Mom, stop it, it's okay," He smiled. "I have great news!"

His mother stopped hugging him and took a step back. "Honey, we have to treat those wounds, what happened?"

"A dog attacked me," he said. "...but it's alright, look!" he said, cupping his hands. 'Now' he commanded, his second persona complying in granting him dominion over energy once again. He summoned a piece of the energy he had absorbed once before and opened his hands to a floating orb that glowed a faint red. "This is energy, mom! I can absorb more, and make more! I'll become strong!"

"I can become a hero, mom!" His mother was tearing up at his son's happiness, tackling him with another bear-hug.

"I-Izuku! I'm sorry... for not believing in you! I'm so sorry, Izuku!" Izuku paused at his mother's confession, but he couldn't help but hug back. "Will you ever forgive me?" She asked. Izuku gave a comforting.

"Of course, mom..."

'Of course not, that is.'

Izuku twitched slightly at that but maintained his cool for until he went back to his bedroom, where he locked the door behind himself and began to think.

'I have a quirk!' Was Izuku's first reaction. 'I thought I'd die! I have a quirk, a quirk, a quirk!' He was absolutely elated. Immediately, he spotted his fourteenth notebook. He lunged for it, brought up a pen and began to jot down notes like his life depended on it.

His whole Friday night passed in a blur of writing and experimenting using an All Might bobblehead. By the time dawn had arrived, Izuku now had a general idea of what his quirk could do.

 **Dynakinesis**

 **Able to manipulate energies in order to affect remote objects. The energy originates from within and can lead to fatigue when overused. Am also capable of absorbing some amount of energy, but not a lot. I also have the ability to sense forces and energies acting on an object in an abstract manner.**

 **Maximum temperature: about 300 degrees Celsius (tested using various solid materials + energy-voyance)**

 **Can also move objects provided energy is sufficient; About 1000 joules of energy is required to manipulate a 100g object for about a minute. Kinetic energy formula does not apply, meaning that my current ability utilizes the thermal energy inefficiently when converting to kinetic energy.**

 **Maximum energy absorbed: Somewhere above 24,160 joules/24.16 kilojoules. Found this value by absorbing the thermal energy of a 40 degree celsius 151 liter tub of water (40 gallons). The energy was absorbed to the point that the water turned into ice. Any further reduction of temperature could not be recorded from there.**

 **Maximum range of 'energy-voyance' and range of effect: 20 meters. Any further distance when viewing the world through Energy-voyance is a blank-white screen.**

 **Calculative power has increased, too. Am able to multiply and divide large numbers with ease. Prerequisite for quirk usage?**

These were the essentials of his findings, barring the tedious experimentations fraught with trial and error. He didn't even know that it was morning until he saw the early morning rays penetrate through the slits of his blinds.

Quickly, he began to jot down a new entry.

 **Quirk wards off sleepiness, most likely through absorption of energy. This explains how absorbing the energy of an object increases my energy and allows for a prolonged use of the quirk.  
**

He began to think for a moment before continuing to write.

 **Not all energy is absorbed, and absorption of energy itself tugs on mental faculties such as cognition, calculative speed et cetera. Evident by how my mind felt sluggish when conducting the bathtub experiment.**

Izuku turned the page to the 'Mutant' extract.

 **The Mutant**

 **I have dubbed him Kuzui. His personality is abrasive, rude and he lacks compassion. He has little faith in human goodness and acts as an opposite of myself for all intents and purposes. Seemingly, he reveals himself mostly when I interact with other people. Hardly replies when called to, aside from requesting quirk activation. Doesn't seem to have much knowledge about anything that I wouldn't know, aside from information regarding the quirk.  
**

 **He knows as much about our benefactors as I do, his existence a derivation from my mind.**

 **Acts as an intermediary between myself and my quirk. Presumably, he carries the 'controls', so to speak.**

Finally feeling satisfied with writing down everything he knew, he closed his book and took a deep breath, stretching his limbs. It was a Saturday morning. He could simply pay those unsavory characters a visit now instead of delaying until midday.

'Like fuck, you will.'

'Kuzui?!' Izuku was jolted by the sudden comment.

'You heard me. Like **fUcK,** y **oU** W **iL** l, Deku!'

'Why?' Izuku began to pace around the room.

'They're fucking dangerous! Listen, and listen well, Deku! You can't listen to these people. We will go there, but once we arrive, you will give me the wheel.'

'Give you the wheel?' Deku was stunned. 'How do I do that?'

'Just quit resisting. I'll take 'em all down. I was made for this quirk. I know how to work it, even with its current limitations which we will overcome eventually. Oh, and by the way: good analysis. You got a few things right. This quirk does carry a semblance of dynakinesis, but you're barely scratching the surface of what you can do. Forget 'decent hero', you'll be a damned legend if you play your cards right!'

Izuku was stunned. 'We can't do that... who knows what they're capable of?! Even Kacchan couldn't-'

'STOP. **CALLING. _HIM._ _KACCHAN!_** ' The voice boomed in his head, giving him a splitting headache. 'Why are you so keen on making friends with that sociopath?! Don't you remember how he treated you?! He has given you shit for most of your life for being quirkless, and now that he's being groomed by _your_ hero, All Might, he thinks he can just take a 180 morality turn and be nice to you?! Fuck him! You deserve better than that!'

'Kacchan has turned a new leaf! I should treat him the way he treats me, now!' Izuku argued.

'Are you telling me that... Bakugou deserves what he's getting? He made your kindergarten life and school life into a living hell. You've never spoken to a girl, except for that Doru bitch because of the self-esteem issues he has given you. Bakugou hasn't just bullied you. He **crippled** you, socially! And now he's going to become a legendary hero because All Might is spoon-feeding him 'smash' steroids and a winning personality! Are you simply going to let this happen?! Bakugou has fucked you over so much, it's hardwired into your _fucking_ brain. Your _fucking_ brain, man! You shouldn't ever forgive him!'

'Quiet, Kuzui!' Izuku thought, closing his eyes. His nose was bleeding as Kuzui's tirade gave him a headache to combat all headaches.

'You'd like that, you spineless maggot-'

"QUIET!" Izuku shouted, causing a blast of force to ripple around him, shattering his windows and knocking over books and figurines.

Kuzui spoke no more.


	4. Chapter 4 - Voices In My Head

Chapter 4 - Voices In My Head

* * *

[2% to Fusion]

This was the first time that Izuku used his quirk without Kuzui's assistance. Once his headache died down, he began to jot down notes regarding what just happened, excited beyond belief.

Eventually, as midday approached, Izuku left once again, smiling brightly at the world, happy about finally having a quirk to call his own, and a damn powerful one at that. After about an hour, he arrived at the abandoned warehouse. He walked right in, being greeted with the familiar white room, but now everyone was present. The suited lady with a bandage covering half her face was in the middle, with Doru standing next to her.

'We've got them right where we want them. Lemme at 'em!'

Izuku pointedly ignored him.

"Greetings, Midoriya Izuku. Welcome to our organization. You may call me Mistress. You have already interacted lengthily with Doru," she said. The pink-haired scientist waved at Izuku, giving a warm smile. "Our resident PR executive, Kouma, or Coma Zzz as you may know him," he said, pointing at the man with the plaid shirt and glasses. He gave a scoff, much to Izuku's surprise. "Finally, we have Boru," she said, pointing at the fat barrier-quirk user. "...And Imigaki," she then pointed at the short reflection-quirk user.

"I am happy to see that you turned out to be a fine specimen, though we could have done without your overenthusiastic friend. I trust that you have grown warier over who follows you," she said. Izuku nodded once. "Great. We would like to run you through a few tests. Nothing too severe or painful. Simply testing the limits of your strength through strenuous activity. It will be nothing like test subject 665," she said. Izuku still swallowed but followed Mistress anyhow.

"Uhm... what if Bakugou returns on his own... with assistance?" Izuku asked. Doru perked up.

"He can't report what he can't remember!" She said. Izuku looked at her incredulously.

"You injected an amnesia agent into him?!" Izuku almost exclaimed. Doru simply nodded feverishly.

"Cool, huh?!"

'Hey, gimme the controls!' Kuzui suddenly exclaimed, causing a jolt of surprise on Izuku's part.

'We still don't know what they're capable of!' Izuku admonished. Kuzui remained quiet at that.

Once Mistress walked to the end of a long corridor, she opened the door, revealing a large and flat expanse.

"Try not to cry too much," Mistress said ominously.

"About that video... with the girl? Are you going to test me like that?" Izuku asked, blanching slightly.

"She was a different case. We had almost no idea what quirk we gave her. She was also too dangerous to let loose. At one point, she almost bit my hand off. Her termination was imminent."

'Termination'. Izuku couldn't help but blanch at that.

PLUS - ULTRA

Tests.

Tests after tests after tests.

Energy usage, energy absorption, the works. Aside from Izuku's rudimentary experimentation, he had finally gotten a better grasp of his limitations as well as his current strength. Also, he finally found an appropriate name for his quirk.

Esper.

 **E** xtra **S** ensory **P** erception. Because he is capable of sensing surrounding forces and energies when in his 'energy-voyance' state, and because of his ability to affect and perceive objects outside of his physical senses.

Through most of it, only Mistress and Doru was present. The rest were out doing whatever they were doing. After about three more hours of tests, Izuku had discovered a few more things about his quirk.

His calculative speed had gone up by leaps and bounds. Izuku never really noticed as his calculative speed was never that low, to begin with, and throughout his own experiments, he hadn't encountered calculations more intense than finding the number of liters in a gallon and then converting that volume of water into mass.

Now he could calculate the square root of ninety-nine to three decimal places without even trying. Both Doru and Izuku chalked it down to the quirk requiring a lot of multi-tasking in order to work properly. Izuku welcomed the fact. God knew his math and science scores needed some brushing up on.

Finally, as the tests ended, Izuku was given a candy bar.

"Huh?" Izuku asked. The offering hand was Doru, smiling brightly as always.

"It's a gift... for being such a good boy!" She beamed. Izuku accepted the candy bar with a shaky hand.

'Aloha, snack bar,' Kuzui muttered dryly.

"Why are you giving this to me?"

"It's an invitation!" She said. Izuku blanched at that.

"...I can't join you..." Izuku said. Doru pointed her tongue at him.

"Too bad. It was an order from above... besides, you still owe us something," she said, her eyes turning a shade darker.

Izuku swallowed. "That would be as good as wishing for more wishes!"

"...Is there a problem with that?" Doru asked, eyes wide as she stared into Izuku's very sole. Izuku took a step back, staggering at the sharpness of the glare.

'GIMME THE WHEEL!' Kuzui shouted. Izuku could barely resist the overwhelming sense of domination that washed over him as Kuzui took over.

"Listen here, ma'am!" 'Izuku' said harshly. "I'll join ya. On one condition. You train me. I'm planning on becoming a hero, and I just got this quirk. Let's help each other, huh?"

Doru looked at Izuku appraisingly, frowning slightly. "That wasn't Izu-chan. Are you the mutation?"

"So what if I am?" 'Izuku' replied harshly. "We came to a consensus on this. I'm just relaying the message in a way that pussy-Deku can't."

"Deal," Doru said swiftly.

"It's either that or- huh? Just like that?" Izuku asked.

"Yeah! We need loyal people. You can become a hero for all we care, as long as you don't disrupt us. In fact, it'd be better to have someone on the inside."

Izuku stood there, considering the facts. He needed training. There were few places where he could train without molestation, and he needed the piece of mind for until he could get into U.A High.

"Alright, then," both Izuku's said as they shook Doru's hand. Just as they made contact, Izuku warped outside, the disorientation taking over as he began to stagger.

"I.. forgot the candy bar."

PLUS - ULTRA

The following days were eery, to say the least. The following Monday, he came to school with confidence in his gait as everyone looked at him.

"Is that 'Deku'?"

"Why's he still so happy?"

Izuku ignored the murmurs as he began to realize just how insignificant they truly were. Why would a lion care about the opinion of sheep?

As Izuku sat for homeroom, he couldn't see Bakugou. Most likely, the injuries he had sustained were too severe to have him actively go to school.

First lesson, Izuku paid rapt attention as the teacher explained a difficult math topic that Izuku seemed to grasp with utmost easiness.

Izuku scribbled down math notes onto his book, much to the teacher's apparent annoyance.

"Midoriya!" The teacher called. "Are you too busy writing _those_ notes to participate in class?" He asked. Izuku looked at him in confusion as he looked around to see the other students also noting things down.

'Ok, now what the _fuck_ is that guy's problem?'

Before Izuku could defend himself, the teacher interrupted. "Spare me. Come up here and complete this equation!" He said. Izuku simply stood up and walked to the board, chalk in hand as he began.

About ten seconds later, a sizable section of the blackboard was scribbled with a concise process.

"Where is his calculator?"

"Was all that mental?"

"Izuku is being good at math?"

Even the teacher was shocked. "Hold on, Midoriya. Weren't you... jotting down hero notes?"

Izuku leaned in to explain it to the teacher so no one could hear. "Actually, they were math notes... It's alright, though. I can understand why you'd assume that."

The teacher simply nodded, and with a cough, he said: "That's alright, Midoriya. Please return to your seat... and I do apologize for the misunderstanding."

'Awesome manipulation! You went complete guilt trip on him!' Kuzui commented. Izuku had to frown at that.

'Why do you always assume the worst of me?'

'I'm literally you. There's no point in hiding anything from me.'

As class ended, a few of his colleagues, who had, for the most part, ignored him, confronted him. Two to be exact. Bakugou's two cronies.

"Hey, Deku! You went ahead and got smart on us!" The extendable-fingers one said, throwing his arm around Izuku's neck in a 'friendly' manner.

"I'll say! Any chance you could..." The winged bully named Tsubasa said.

"...Do our homework?" They said at the same time.

'Okay, that's it. I'm taking off the gloves. Teach's not around. Turning on eliminate mode!'

Izuku's vision changed as all forces were visible to him.

'Wait, wait, wait!' Izuku quickly stifled his quirk as much as he could, much to Kuzui's annoyance.

"Wait, what just happened?" The extendable-fingers bully named Yubi just asked as he backed away from Izuku.

"Did... did his eyes just... change?" Tsubasa asked.

"You saw it too?" Yubi said, looking at his friend. "Deku, aren't you supposed to be quirkless. Or..." the mood suddenly lightened. "Is that all your quirk does?"

'Izuku, get the fuck out of my way. I'm taking over.' Kuzui said. Izuku tried to resist, but couldn't. Izuku then adopted a glare as his gaze shifted between the two bullies in front of him.

"How about instead of your homework, I do your mothers?" Izuku had a shit-eating grin.

'That's rude, Kuzui!'

'Shut the fuck up, Deku'

"What?!" Yubi exclaimed.

"That's it. Bakugou won't like us beating on ya, but he won't mind after we tell him what you just told us."

Izuku then stepped forward, much to the bullies' surprises. They tried to step back, only to be shocked as they were held still by an invisible force. Izuku placed his hands on both their shoulders. "How about you go and tell Bakugou this: He best prepare, because I, too, have a load that'll blow up on his mom."

'Kuzui! That's an awful _and_ perverted thing to say!' Izuku blanched as he said that. Both the two boys were completely awe-struck, not expecting to be restrained, much less by something they couldn't even see.

"Listen, Fish Fingers and Buffalo Wings. I don't know why you both bullied me about how I could never become a hero. I mean, your fucking quirk is finger extension!" Izuku laughed as he looked at Yubi, who looked down in shame. "And you!" He looked at Tsubasa. "You wouldn't be such a fucking failure if you could fly for more than five minutes!"

"But it's alright," Izuku concluded. "Just stay out of my fucking way like the extra characters you both are. It'll be a breeze, considering how God doesn't even like giving you two much screen time."

And with that, Izuku left the class, unfreezing both of his two childhood bullies, who still stood there, unable to fathom just happened.

'Great, Kuzui! You just revealed the fact that we have a quirk!' Izuku grimaced as he walked down the hallway.

'Heh! Serves 'em right! They won't fuck with you anymore, that's for sure. Rejoice! You have no more bullies!'

'You said some ugly things about people that weren't involved.' Izuku complained. He could feel a sigh coming from Kuzui.

'And I'm sure aunt Mitsuki is crying her eyes out over a comment which she didn't even hear. And you don't owe that bitch shit, anyway! She mothered that explosive bastard. If she doesn't get gang-raped-'

'That's NOT okay to say, Kuzui!' Izuku plugged his ears as he continued walking, eliciting weird stares from his peers.

'Oh, but it is. We can say whatever we want in here. It's just you and I!'

'SHUT UP!'

"GRH!" Izuku grunted loudly in the middle of the hallway, holding his head, squinting his eyes as he bared his teeth in pain. His outburst caused a light breeze of wind to expel around him, causing a slight breeze.

[3% to fusion]

Now, the students avoided Izuku like the plague as they began to scatter around, not wanting to be involved in whatever mental breakdown was occurring within him. Izuku felt a warm trickle on his nose. He looked around, feeling awkward.

"It.. It happened again," he mumbled. 'Kuzui. Am I gaining control over the quirk?' Izuku asked, tentatively willing his mind to manipulate the quirk, but to little avail.

Kuzui didn't reply.

The silence was nearly deafening. Obviously, the mutation/secondary persona wouldn't appreciate that his job was slowly being taken away from him. Izuku gulped before continuing on with his day, trying not to interact with people so as to lessen the impact that Kuzui might have on him.

PLUS - ULTRA

The next day, Bakugou came to school.

He wore two slings that supported both of his injured arms. The moment the class saw him, they started running at him, peppering him with all sorts of questions. Bakugou backed up and smiled, saying something about how he got hit by a car.

Izuku knew that was a lie.

The moment Bakugou saw Izuku, and vice versa, the two locked eyes for a single pregnant moment. Bakugou adopted a wide grin as he made his way through the crowd, to Izuku's desk.

'Okay, now what the fuck does he want?'

"Hey, Izuku! Glad to see you're alright!" Bakugou said. Izuku gave him a shaky grin.

'Hey, you're not frowning right. _This_ is how.'

Izuku suddenly glared daggers at Bakugou, throwing him somewhat off, but only for a moment before he began to smile at him, Izuku having taken control again.

'I don't appreciate having you take control over me like that!' Izuku thought crossly.

"H-hey...! I'm... glad that you're safe!" Izuku said.

"As safe as I can be," said Bakugou, raising his arms up slightly. "Hey, listen. I know I've taken to doing this quite often, but I've gotta tell you something. After school!" Bakugou said.

'Fuck off'

"Fu-Sure!" Izuku stopped himself in the nick of time.

'Why are you contradicting me, Deku?'

'Maybe because Bakugou is a changed person! I should forgive him'

'You really are an idiot!'

Izuku clamped his hands together, his right pressing his left and vice versa, almost like the two hands were having a battle of wills.

'Spare me. I'll teach you goodness if it's the last thing I do.'

"You... okay, there?" Bakugou asked.

'WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING FRIENDLY?! DAMMIT, THIS IS CONFUSING!' Kuzui shrieked inside Izuku's head, eliciting a light trickle of blood from his nose, causing more alarm in Bakugou.

"I... I think it's best you should leave... I'm having these m-migraines..." Izuku explained with a diagonal frown. Bakugou arched an eyebrow.

"Oh... uhm... you're bleeding... you want to go to the infirmary with me?" Bakugou asked. Izuku felt above his upper lip, just below his nose, feeling the slick surface, the iron-y smell having just now become apparent. Izuku shook his head.

"I think... I'll, uh, go alone!" Izuku said, standing up from his chair as he began to walk out of the classroom. "Please inform the teacher of my absence while I'm away!" He said as he continued to run.

"What's with that Izuku?"

"What's going on between those two?"

The crowd began to murmur, unable to fathom why the two seemed so close after the intense bullying that one had put the other through.

Izuku continued to walk through the hallways, utterly torn between his two personalities.

'You should listen to me! I'm the original!' Izuku yelled in his mind. Kuzui replied with a laugh, causing his physical body to grin, too.

'Listen here, you little shit. What makes you any more real than I am? I have rights, too. Why would I just let my host body go through all this humiliation?!' Izuku jerked to the side as another bout of migraines just set in, causing his nose to bleed more profusely.

'You are... a damn vermin!'

'Oooh, didn't know you had it in you!' Kuzui mocked. 'I might be the vermin, but you're a fucking bug. I'm not allowing myself to live in the shoes of a bug!' Izuku jerked again, pushing the wall for support. His knees were buckling as he pressed his forehead against the wall in pain.

Though the pain was potent, it was nowhere near what he experienced in that dreaded laboratory.

'You.. need... to... listen!' Izuku grunted, headbutting the wall, causing a deep indentation to form. His forehead was unscathed, however.

[5% to Fusion]

'Or what...? Nothing!' Kuzui mocked. Izuku grunted, his facial expression reverting from a grinning maniac to a frustrated and possessed teenager. 'Okay, listen. Suppose I did let you walk with Bakugou. What would happen, then? Would you make friends with him just like that? Forget everything he's ever done to you-'

'What's wrong with that?!' Izuku's breathing was heavy as more blood poured out of his nose. 'What's wrong with being magnanimous?! I'm going to become a hero, dammit! I should have it in me to forgive and forget!'

Izuku stood up and walked towards the infirmary at a steady pace. 'You're not being magnanimous or heroic. You're just being a pussy. If you were that much of a hero purist, wouldn't you have shied away from obtaining a quirk the way you did?'

'That... that's-'

'Not different at all, Izuku. You're a fucking hypo-'

Izuku threw a punch at the wall so hard that he indented the concrete, bloodying his knuckles, most likely breaking them. The pain was just enough to ignore Kuzui. 'It doesn't work like that. If you try to ignore me, I'll just become louder!'

Izuku's heart rate increased as he stood still in the empty hallway. He was at his breaking point.

'Kuzui... I was ready to die to get a quirk. Do you think I'd hesitate to have you removed from my head? I can master this quirk without your assistance at all. You're expendable.'

'Hahahaha! Are you threatening me, Izuku?!' Kuzui sneered. Izuku simply punched himself on the cheek, almost loosening a tooth. The punch was full-power and no-holds-barred as evidence of how he was bleeding in his mouth.

'I'm threatening us. Only thing is... I don't care much about 'us''

'You're one crazy motherfucker, Izuku! You're becoming just like me. A sociopath!'

'DON'T SAY THAT!' Izuku shuddered, causing a wave of force to emanate from him, pushing the ceiling upwards, and the walls sidewards as they began to make way for him.

[10% to Fusion]

'Yes, yes... Bakugou is the sociopath! Remember that!' Kuzui said. Thus, he went silent. Izuku could do nothing now than to simply ponder those words with little enthusiasm as he made his way to the infirmary to patch himself up.

'I'm... going insane...'

'You bet. I mean, you're talking to yourself.'

Izuku trudged on.

How did he deal with the Bakugou dilemma? He smiled and nodded, then did whatever he was going to do anyway. The talk with him was pretty straightforward.

"You can't become a hero without a quirk, but you can still work for other heroes, or you could pick a job at the government at a branch focused on heroism. Use your brain. You've always been smarter than me. I'll admit that my bullying you was mostly for self-validation, which just goes to show how valuable you are in your own right! Go for it, Izuku! You can do it!" Bakugou said. Izuku simply nodded and smiled.

"That is so nice of you. I'll consider it. Thank you, Kacchan," Izuku said.

"Anytime," Bakugou said with a smile before taking off.

'Ew what the fuck?!'

Thus commenced the internal warfare. Izuku was at the point where it was physically cumbersome to speak to others. He even kept interactions with his mother to a minimum as Kuzui always had something to say about everyone. The worst part?

Izuku listened. Or at least a small part of him did, but that's more than he'd ever care to admit considering the vile things that he'd spew.

Over the weeks, Izuku would discover more things about his quirk and add them to his notebook. His energy manipulation and absorption was at a point where he was able to absorb about fifty more kilojoules of energy, and this thermal-to-kinetic energy conversion became more efficient. Now, a whooping 1% of all of his thermal energy can be successfully converted into kinetic energy in order to lift objects. By pushing himself in order to increase his energy usage and efficiency, he'd incur headaches and become fatigued, but that didn't matter. He had to become stronger, and besides...

Izuku had experienced worse pains.

A little migraine wouldn't be enough to stifle Izuku's growth. In the admission exam, he was going to compete against students with over ten years of experience on him. He had to train day and night. To that end, Izuku stopped using his body where he could and manipulated objects with kinetic energy for almost everything.

Eating was challenging, but once his mother stopped staring at the floating spoon, it became much less awkward for Izuku. In school, he still had to act like he was a quirkless. Another curious development was the 'Izuku-wall', a metaphorical wall which he would project whenever anyone approached him, making him seem unavailable and too busy for interaction. Bakugou saw that as a sign that the boy was healing, and gave him peace of mind by leaving him alone.

Another thing was... the fusion, which Izuku would come to dub it.

To keep it simple, Izuku understood it as this.

Izuku still hadn't fully fused with his Esper quirk. He was getting close, but he was still nowhere there yet. Kuzui still had to act as an intermediary, but nowadays, Izuku became more and more attuned to his power. He felt he had at least a tenth of the control of his quirk than with Kuzui's assistance. The only problem was that he still didn't know how to increase this fusion.

Izuku chalked it off as something that would develop over time, and thus left it.

Thus, on a regular day, and one that didn't promise much excitement, Izuku headed home. As he closed in on his apartment block, he could see smoke coming from it. His face grew ashen as he ran as fast as he could.

Then, he saw it.

His apartment building was aflame. The fire brigade had already rolled up, doing whatever they could to put out the fire.

From the distance, Izuku could hear something that froze his veins.

"Among the tenants that are yet to be evacuated are... Midoriya Inko..." Among the names, his mother's sounded loudest. Alarms rang in his head. His mother could be dead for all he knew.

Izuku would have none of that.

Without even a thought, he ran. He got past the firefighters who tried to grab a hold of him. He dumped his backpack as he sent a surge of energy straight through the main door, crushing it instantly. Then, he ran up the stairs as fast as he'd ever done before.

* * *

 **I think I'd have enough OCs by the time the fifth chapter comes out. If you still want a piece of the SYOC action, send an OC my way, through either a review or PM.**

 **Also, please don't go to Google Translate and translate random phrases into Japanese thinking that it's a decent pun for a name for your OC. I'd rather have palatable names than Japanese puns that 90% of the audience wouldn't get anyways.**

 **Needless to say, I'll be doing quite a lot of editing of names. Don't take it personally. It's my fanfic after all.**

 **Also, thank you so much for all the follows and reviews! You guys are just amazing!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Kudos, My Hero

Chapter 5 (OST: My Hero by Foo Fighters) (A/N: Read the last few paragraphs of the previous chapter. I changed it up a bit)

Izuku ran.

He cursed how far up his apartment was, having grown weary of the steps from the middle floors. It didn't help that the smoke would displace the oxygen, slowly suffocating him.

The fire was the only thing that would energize him. Whenever a fire was in his way, he'd activate his energy absorption and take in as many flames as he could without burning himself, using that energy to heal his body as he continued to run.

Once Izuku finally arrived at the top floor where he lived, he was horrified to find how the inferno had increased to such a point. The flame was dense, the walls having been torn down. The inside of the apartment was barely recognizable. Yet, Izuku never faltered. He held his breath as he surveyed his surroundings.

'Time to stretch your limits, Deku! ABSORB IT ALL!'

Izuku didn't have to be told twice. He walked forward, towards the gaping hole that used to be his door, energies swirling around him, emanating from the flames as they slowly died. His quirk began to draw in all the flames into an orb the size of a soccer ball. Once done, the orb entered Izuku, causing his mind to falter as he felt dizzy.

Izuku tried storing as much of it in his body, despite how painful it was. He continued to run around the apartment, looking for his stay-at-home mother. Into the kitchen, he burst through, shocked as he saw his mother huddled in a corner, scorch-marks all over her body. He ran as quickly as he could, relieved that his energy-voyance revealed that she was still alive. But not for long, if this continued.

He immediately began to lift her with his quirk, sealing her in a sphere of densely packed air which had filters, allowing Inko clean air to breath.

As he continued downwards, he recalled the list of non-evacuees. He couldn't leave just yet.

He sent an energy blast through a door for an apartment which he knew would contain one of his neighbors still not evacuated. Izuku left his mother outside in that sphere as he looked for his neighbor. Luckily, he lay sprawled in the living room, the first thing Izuku saw as he entered.

Rinse and repeat as Izuku created another sphere of air which he interred his neighbor in. Izuku continued to run down, now with two different people in tow.

'Air, Deku! AIR!' Kuzui screamed, causing Izuku to remember something dizzying.

He had been holding his breath for the last minute.

Like a freight train, the need for oxygen hit him, causing him to stumble, his quirk flickering, much to his horror. Kuzui immediately took over, expanding a fine telekinetic net around himself, warding off all the smoke, filtering clean air in.

'Made a filter! Keep going, Deku!'

Izuku stood up and continued running downstairs, occasionally bursting into different apartments, saving everyone that he could. With each sphere of air that he made using the energy absorbed from the flames, it started becoming harder and harder to focus on each sphere, and thus they began to flicker. By the end of it all, he cleared the list of non-evacuees, having rescued seventeen people, and finally got down from the building, bursting through it with a telekinetic blast.

The firefighters immediately burst forward as Izuku exited. Izuku pushed the evacuees forward, gently placing them on the ground, much to the amazement of the surrounding crowd of people, and the firefighters.

Izuku began to absently think that he'd make a damn good rescue hero, but once he looked at the burning building again, swaying on his feet, he couldn't shake of the feeling that he could still help.

And then, everything went to black.

PLUS - ULTRA

Izuku woke up in a hospital room.

He removed the oxygen mask strapped to his mouth, looking at himself. He twiddled his toes tentatively before sitting upright.

He was wearing a hospital gown. Strapped to his forearm was a multitude of wires connected to a large machine next to his hospital bed, eliciting regular pings that seemed to be in one-second intervals.

There were several burns on his legs, all of which seemed to have healed, leaving behind discolored skin.

Izuku was confused.

'What's there to be confused about? Did all the fire mess up your head?'

Thus, Izuku remembered.

The conflagration threatening to consume everything. His mother, burnt and scorched in the corner of their apartment, alone and waiting to die. The six other evacuees all rescued by him. Who knows if any of them were even alive. What about his mother?

Izuku ripped off the wires and walked out of bed, hobbling out the door. A nurse spotted him as he walked down the hallway. She approached him hurriedly.

"S-sir, you can't-" Suddenly, an invisible force held onto her. Izuku ignored her as he walked right past, looking through as many doors as he could to see if his mother was nearby.

After a few other trials, he found the room.

His mother looked absolutely awful.

Her breath was faint as her oxygen mask moistened slightly with each breath. Her heart rate seemed very slow. While most of her body was covered by a blanket, low. While most of her body was covered by a blanket, one could still see the grievous burns that her face suffered. On her left cheek, there seemed to be a patch of scarred tissue, wrinkled and red. Some of her hair was also burnt off, disheveling it in the process.

Next to her was a doctor, noting down something as he seemed to observe her. Sometime after Izuku opened the door, the doctor turned around, giving him a faint smile.

"Midoriya Izuku?" The doctor asked. He was a rather old man, seemingly 50 or so years old. His hair was gray, and most of his face was covered by facial hair that was equally snowy.

Izuku nodded at the doctor. "I'm afraid..." The phrase sent a spike right through Izuku's heart. "Your mother is critical. She's due for an operation any time now. You aren't allowed to be here. Please recover in your allocated hospital room."

Izuku's eyes became watery.

'Oh, for the love of-!'

Izuku's eyes suddenly became more ferocious. "Tell it like it is, doctor! What's the matter with her?"

The doctor arched an eyebrow but explained nonetheless. "Your mother has third-degree burns on about fifty percent of her legs, and... there seem to be some fourth-degree burns too, on her calf, which may affect her ability to walk for the foreseeable future. Her extremities, her toes, and fingers, are also critically damaged. There seems to be some permanent nerve damage which may hopefully be alleviated after a few years of physiotherapy. As for now, we'll have to perform excessive skin grafting. Thankfully, your mother has a surplus of skin which we could use to help her. She is, however, currently in a very fragile state, and..." The doctor trailed off, unsure of what more to say. Izuku took the initiative and prodded further.

"Will she die?!" Izuku prompted. The doctor was taken aback slightly by the forwardness. He replied with a simple shrug.

"It's hard to say what the outcome will be, though I'm afraid... it's leaning towards both sides at once. Only time will tell."

Izuku was crestfallen. He fell to his knees, tears running down his cheeks as he sobbed.

Kuzui was... silent, for once.

Midoriya Inko might have been woefully unaware, disgustingly naive, scatter-brained and all-around bumbling, but she was all that Izuku had for a parent, other than his father whom he almost never saw. Most importantly?

She was Izuku's only source of love.

No one in the world cared for Izuku's well-being and happiness like his mother did. When it felt like everyone was against him, his mother was a clear exception. She was his one shining beacon in a sea of darkness.

To hear that she could be taken away from him that easily... it truly crushed him. The doctor wisely stood back and let nature run its course.

Once he was done grieving, he got to his feet and hobbled back to his room, meeting the still-frozen nurse who seemed to be sweating bullets. With an absent wave of his hand, he set her free, causing her to fall. Izuku didn't know whether she got up or not because he continued ahead, crawled up in his hospital bed and continued sobbing to himself.

And surprisingly, Kuzui let him.

And during his grief, he slept and _dreamed_.

PLUS - ULTRA

1 existed in an abstract plain devoid of color or shade. From the moment it was conceived, it wanted to become a larger number, as most numbers do. For every power added to 1's friends, they would grow larger and larger,

1's childhood friend, 6, was one of the rare larger numbers. Even a power of two would raise it to 36, which is more than any of his peers could say.

Eventually, 1 found out that for each power it would possess, 1 wouldn't grow.

Skip to ten powers. 6 was at about sixty million, a number which 1 couldn't even fathom.

1 was at a power of ten. Still a 1 because 1^10=1.

6 approached 1 to a distance infinitely small. "You are unable to grow larger because you will remain one no matter how many times you multiply with yourself."

"I have realized," replied 1. "I am unable to fulfill my wish to become a larger number. I will forever remain as I am. This fact is highly unpleasant."

Other numbers began to approach 1 to a distance infinitely small, just enough to relay a trans-mathematical message. "You are worthy of ridicule for this offense of not being capable of growing when multiplying with yourself," Said a certain 3^10.

"I am incapable of growing when multiplying with myself," 1 confirmed.

"You cannot grow when multiplied with yourself," said 2^10.

"This is true," confirmed 1.

"It is true that you are one, regardless of your power," Said 4^10.

"This is true," said 1.

The numbers increased their distance from 1, leaving him alone to ponder for subjective eons.

"I am incapable of growing... because I am one. I am not a prime number. I am both my own square and square root. I become any number I multiply with. I add a single unit of value to any number I am added to. Any number I divide remains as though I never divided it in the first place. I am extremely insignificant in this regard," 1 said.

Thus, 1 continued on for eternity, trapped in its cage of insignificance.

PLUS - ULTRA

Izuku woke up from a dream he could barely remember.

This time, to the side of his bed, he found Bakugou Katsuki.

'What's _he_ doing here?'

The moment Bakugou saw Izuku's eyes open, he beamed at him. Izuku was still very depressed, and couldn't even manage to hold up a facade of friendliness.

"Hey," Bakugou said, solemnly with a conflicted facial expression. Izuku looked at him blankly as he tried to sit up-right. "Easy, there," Bakugou mumbled.

"What time is it?" Izuku asked wearily. Bakugou slipped his phone from his pocket and checked the time.

"It's about seven in the evening..."

"How's... how's my... mom?" Izuku asked again, unable to keep the sadness off of his voice.

"She's steady... Recovery Girl came to help, making sure that she'd stay alive throughout the operation... I'm... so sorry about this..." Bakugou said.

"I'm... going to see my mother, now," Izuku simply got off the bed and headed for the door, only to see Bakugou holding his arm back. He gave Izuku a rather serious expression that brokered no nonsense.

"Izuku... There's something I've been wanting to know..." Bakugou said. Izuku eyed him strangely.

'I am so close to strangling this motherfu-'

"Izuku... have you manifested a quirk?" He asked. The question slowly halted Izuku.

"Damn Kuzui," Izuku muttered under his breath. "Y-yes... I have..."

Bakugou frowned at that. "When was this?" He asked.

Izuku didn't know what to say, so he went for the truth. "About a month ago," he said. Bakugou glared at Izuku.

"And why didn't you tell me?"

"LIKE I OWE YOU SHIT!" Izuku suddenly exclaimed, his eyes fiery as he snatched his arm back. Kuzui caught Izuku by complete surprise, not even allowing him to react to the surprise possession.

Bakugou was gaping, veins growing more prominent on his forehead as he glared at Izuku. "Izuku... you-!"

"Sorry..." Izuku stated meekly, causing Bakugou to blink in disbelief. The change in demeanor was almost jarring. How could he be so happy, then explosive, and suddenly so soft?

"I'll... I'll respect the fact that you wanted to hold your quirk a secret... it's within your rights... But, I've gotta know... that night... when I was 'hit by a car'," Bakugou made air quotes. "...your quirk got triggered... only the memories... they seem really hazy. What exactly happened?"

"I suggest you stop interrogating me. I just got out of saving an entire apartment block, and I'm on my way to see my injured mother. Get in my way again, and I won't hesitate to use force."

[13% to Fusion]

Kuzui/Izuku spoke.

Izuku was shocked.

'What was THAT?!' Kuzui asked in disbelief.

'It's like... your rudeness and my politeness fused...'

Bakugou grunted before looking down, gesturing towards the door.

Izuku didn't know what to do, so he simply started walking out, unable to bear the awkward tension in the room anymore.

He made his way to his mother's ward, walking into an emaciated blond man in a yellow-striped suit and a short and elderly lady wearing a nurse outfit. Next to them was a suited gentleman with glasses and parted hair.

His gaze lingered on the elderly lady before it suddenly clicked.

Recovery girl!

His mother was still asleep, but her heart-rate and breathing were much less distressing. Izuku immediately approached the famous healing hero.

"Ah, if it isn't Midoriya Izuku?" Recovery Girl said as she looked up at the middle schooler. "Worry not. Your mother will be just fine. Though there'll be some remaining nerve damage that can't be healed, she will be fully functional in a year's time if she dedicates herself to rehabilitation."

"Son," The emaciated man said, stepping forward. He offered Izuku his hands, and they both shook. "Congratulations on having saved all those people in that fire. It would truly have been a tragedy without your help. You will make a fine hero with that spirit of yours," He said. The gentleman then stepped forward to shake his hand.

Izuku shook the man's hand, slightly confused. The man saw this and tried to explain. "The names Kenji Yamamoto, my colleague prefers to not have his name mentioned. I work for the government. I am here to inform you that the unauthorized use of your quirk has been sanctioned under the 2096 Heroism Act and coupled with the fact that you are a minor, you have been exempt from all prosecutions. And again, good job," he said, patting Izuku's shoulder.

Izuku couldn't help but feel a slight sense of elation at his heroic deed, but whatever happiness he felt was quickly extinguished by the fact that his mother was severely injured.

"When can she be checked out... and where... will we live?"

"In a week's time, she'll be checked out. Until then, you may live here," Yamamoto said as he handed Izuku a pamphlet. On the pamphlet was a three-story house somewhere upstate, in a relatively rich neighborhood. There was even a pool in the front yard.

"H-how can we afford this?" Izuku shouted, disbelief in his eyes.

"You don't have to," Yamamoto smiled. Yamamoto removed his phone from his pocket and opened a video, showing it to Izuku. It showed Izuku running into the building, the cutting to when he exited it with seventeen people whom he rescued using his quirk. "You're a sensation on the internet, and on national TV. Hell, even internationally, you're the Orudera Spirit of Fire Boy. There was a crowd-funding for you since word got out that it was _your_ apartment building that burned down. The people spoke, and as of today, you're the proud owner of sixty million yen."

Izuku's heart skipped a beat.

'Sixty million?' Izuku thought to himself.

'We're rich, Deku!' Kuzui shouted.

Izuku had to stand still for a moment before getting regaining his composure.

"Money isn't an issue, then...?"

"The house was offered at a discount, and it's rent-free. It's six-hundred square meters and is located in the Korusant district. As it stands, it costs about 49,000,000. You deserve it, young Midoriya."

Both Kuzui and Izuku were about to say something, but before they could, _it_ happened again.

"I'd like to have a lawyer present. Forgive me, as I'm not very trusting towards strangers," Izuku said. Wide-eyed, he slapped his hand over his mouth. Yamamoto simply laughed.

"Sharp tongue, huh? Of course, I'd never deprive you of legal counseling. The offer still stands. It'll be utter simplicity to find a lawyer considering your circumstance," Yamamoto said, holding his chin contemplatively.

Izuku nodded. It all made sense. Izuku knew why everyone invested in him so much.

He was a future hero. Everything, from the ridiculously successful crowd-funding, the discounted housing, Recovery Girl's aid and the relative ease that would be finding a suitable lawyer.

It was all an investment. A slight push towards his future goals. The actions he displayed codified the true spirit of a hero. He could have only saved his mother, but he saved everyone. Granted, he did save his mother first, not many would have the magnanimity to do such a thing.

Thus, every good deed was simply just people sowing karma for future use. For the crowd that funded his housing costs, it was increased public security. For the owner of the house and the lawyer that he would eventually find, it was the ability to say that they made that one Orudera boy who rescued people from a burning building's life better, not to mention building relations with that future powerhouse.

If anything, it would be stupid not to jump at the opportunity to help him.

'All these people...' Izuku thought to himself. 'They... they all believe in me... that... I can become a hero! I won't fail them!' Izuku felt a conviction stronger than any other. 'Korusant district, huh? It's closer to the warehouse, so that was another win.

PLUS - ULTRA

The first thing he realized once he moved into the spacious new house was that he had lost all of his worldly possessions.

The remaining money was about 11,000,000 yen, something which would last him years if he and his mother lived the same way they always had and coupled with the income of his father, the majority of which he dedicated to his family, money would practically never be an issue, especially once he becomes a pro-hero and rakes in billions of yen on a regular basis.

The house was furnished with a style similar to his old house. Everything seemed similar but just much more polished...

It was unfamiliar and eery.

Izuku tried ignoring the nagging feeling of unfamiliarity and made his way to the upper floor, where his room would be. He entered the room. His old bed was replaced with a newer and much better looking one. All of his All Might swag was gone, and Izuku didn't have any plans on replacing them. It didn't feel right.

His new computer was a relative beast compared to his old one. He could afford it, and the interior designer wanted him to go for a 'bigger and better' approach.

Izuku couldn't help but agree.

The decision to not have his room decked with All Might swag was a monumental one for Izuku, but one he would follow through with nonetheless. Kuzui didn't like it, and quite frankly, Izuku could no longer ignore his presence. Kuzui had a say in where they were going to steer his body, whether Izuku liked it or not.

'Damn skippy.' Kuzui commented.

Most of the hero-notes that he had taken, he stored them in an external cloud, along with all of his childhood photos, so there was no loss of memories. It was the small things, though, that stung Izuku. The one creaky floorboard in front of the kitchen, that indentation on the wall of his room from when he was still four and tried to activate his quirk forcefully, which injured him to the point where he had to stitch his arm. He tried hard to resist crying, just to come off as a hero.

His mother, though worried, chuckled at his son's show of strength.

'Fight on, Izuku!"

Izuku smiled at the memory.

That one indentation didn't exist in his new room. Although it filled his heart with sorrow, he accepted the emotion, redirecting its intensity towards his drive to become stronger.

His mother was going to be released tomorrow. They had to take it slow, first. She would be in a wheel-chair for the first week, regularly exercising her once-charred legs before leaving the wheel-chair altogether, and continuing rehab with crutches, and eventually letting them go too.

Izuku's goal? Being with his mother, supporting her every step of the way.

'We'll kill anyone that gets in our way,' Kuzui _stated_ in a tone more serious than he'd ever heard before. Surprisingly, Izuku didn't even protest that.

Izuku fell on his bed face first, closing his eyes to sleep.

 _PING_

Izuku looked up over at the desktop computer, the screen lighting up as text began to form on it. Izuku stood up to investigate. As he came close enough, he could see the message written in front of the wallpaper.

 **'Hey, Izuku-chan! Sorry about your mommy and all that. I hope you'll still visit us regularly... or else...'**

Izuku couldn't help but feel conflicted at that. Not knowing how to reply, Kuzui took over as he opened a notepad document, writing down his response.

 **'Get yourself another lab rat. I'm staying at home for the _foreseeable_ future. Someone needs me here _.'_**

Izuku waited patiently for a reply, somewhat anxiously. If anything, he knew Kouma could be a scary motherfucker when he wanted to, and Izuku had never tested him so far. After a few minutes, the entire screen began to flicker to various different natural disasters, then criminal scenes, and then to a single photo of his mother, photoshopped to a spike having protruded through her chest in an almost cartoonish manner.

Izuku's forehead veins began to reveal themselves beneath his skin as his breathing became heavier and heavier.

'Alright fuck this. Allow me, Deku'

'With pleasure.'

 **'I'll end all of you. This organization won't be standing once I'm finished with you all. All of you are going to die. Mark my words.'**

Izuku remained passive as Kuzui wrote that.

Without even checking for a reply, Izuku ran out of the house and made his way to the hospital as quickly as possible. He ran up the stairs, to his mother's ward and burst through the doors.

"Hey, Izu-chan!" Came a grinning reply from _that_ girl. Her pink hair reflected the cold light of the ceiling lamp, her glasses clouded by glare.

Izuku immediately raised his hands, his eyes shining as his quirk activated.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Doru reprimanded as she raised a hand, showing a knife, which immediately stopped him from trying anything. "Don't be too loud. You'll wake her up,"

"What do you want?!" Izuku shout/whispered. Doru chuckled.

"We want you, silly! You know where to find us," Doru immediately reached to touch his sleeping mother's forehead.

"DON'T!" He shouted as he tried activating his quirk quickly enough to grab a hold of her.

And just like that, the space that both his mother and Doru occupied was cleared.

'They are so fucking dead!'

"Dammit!" Kuzui shouted.

* * *

AN: Alright, we've got about 16 OCs. SYOCs for class 1-A, which will be featured the most, is almost done. If you still want your OC featured, now's the time. There'll always be a B-class, but it won't have nearly as much screen time.

I've got teachers filled to capacity. No more teacher OCs pls.

Also, I'll inform you when I won't be using your OCs because the tension must be uncomfortable.

The SYOC closes on chapter 10 most likely, which is the chapter I've planned on having mah Boi Midoriya Shonen join Shiketsu.

Let me just take a moment to say just how happy I am to have so many followers and reviews. It's insane!

As always, keep the reviews coming. Let me know if you have any questions regarding this chapter.


	6. Chapter 6 - Fusion

Chapter 6 - Fusion

* * *

She's gone.

Not even a flash of light.

Not a plume of smoke.

Not even a fucking drawn blanket.

They were there one moment. The other, they weren't. It was as though God erased their very existence in front of him.

Izuku's heart skipped several beats as he stared blankly at the scene.

'They're... gone. Gone... Gone... gone, gone, gone-'

'Pipe down, Deku...' Kuzui muttered, slightly concerned.

'Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone-'

'Shut up!'

'Gone, gone, gone, gone-'

'Dammit, Deku! Shut the fuck UP!'

'They're both gone!' Izuku remained lifeless, not moving an inch.

'Fine. We'll do it the hard way.'

Suddenly, Izuku felt himself lose consciousness as he fell into himself, his view becoming smaller and smaller until they were but dots of light in the middle of an all-encompassing darkness.

Abruptly, he flew as fast as he could towards the pinholes, flying through them, and into a room.

His room.

In the apartment building before the fire, that is. In front of him stood a copy of him, only there were differences. He looked much paler, had a darker shade of green for his hair, and bore a malicious smirk.

"Welcome to your room."

"Kuzui?" Izuku looked at him, slack-jawed. "W-where are we?"

Kuzui looked at him, slightly disappointed. "In your head, dumbass."

"Am I... are we powering up?" Izuku ventured to ask. Kuzui began to laugh as he snapped his fingers.

"Bingo!" He said, pointing at Izuku. "It won't be easy. Have a seat," He said, suddenly appearing before him. He pushed him down on a chair which suddenly came alive, the arms strapping around his wrists.

Izuku recognized it.

It was the same metallic chair that he was strapped into when he first received his quirk.

"Okay... Listen. Remember that time when we spoke at the same time, and then we said something that neither of us would say, but that it was basically an amalgam of both of our sentiments combined into one?" Kuzui asked.

 _'I'd like to have a lawyer present...'_

 _'I suggest you stop interrogating me...'_

Memories of the events described resurfaced. Izuku nodded.

"I've been borrowing some of your exorbitant brain power for a while. The calculative speed that can allow you to focus on billions of particles at once without breaking a sweat, you know. Using that power, I've been thinking... Have you noticed that we're fusing?" Kuzui asked. Izuku nodded.

"I have... I have been able to use more of our quirk without having to consult you. I'm not really certain about the mechanics of our fusion, however..."

"I am," said Kuzui, smirking. "I don't know what to call this entity that appears whenever we fuse, so I'll simply opt for the name Fusion. This Fusion entity grows every time we fuse."

"And when is that?"

"When this happens," Kuzui said, punching Izuku's defenseless form, blood, and spittle flying from his mouth. Izuku grunted in pain.

"I-I thought I was in our head!"

"Pain's the same no matter where you go, idiot. The blood's also an illusion. Nice touch, right?" Kuzui smirked. "Whenever we come to a kinda-sorta consensus, we fuse, and a new entity takes place to control our actions, one that perfectly emulates both of our wishes into a compact action. Naturally, we won't both agree with everything it does, but that's more than enough" Kuzui finished. The blood on Izuku's face suddenly vanished, Izuku having willed it to. He tried breaking out from the chair, but couldn't. "H-how?"

"Our wills are battling. You can affect everything in here but your restraint or me. You're going to have to take these like the champ you are," Kuzui said as he socked Izuku again.

And again.

"Why are you doing this?!" Izuku cried. Kuzui smirked.

"Whenever we collide violently, we also fuse. Whenever we have disagreements and combat each other directly for hegemony over this body, we fuse further. We begin to understand each other slowly as we fuse, leading to less collisions, so that's why I'm taking matters into my own hands. If I, say, punch you to the point where you fight back, we'll fuse so fast, we'll be invincible!"

"Why?!" Izuku shouted. Kuzui chuckled.

"Simple... I want strength."

Kuzui's fist flew towards Izuku's face. Just as the two were about to collide, Izuku sent a kinetic blast towards Kuzui, sending him rolling across the floor in a daze before the wall of his room stopped him. The walls flickered and became translucent for a fleeting moment before returning to normal. Kuzui stood up, panting as he eyed Izuku with an almost bestial desire.

[18% To Fusion]

"YES!" Kuzui exclaimed.

Izuku used his quirk to break free, floating a few inches above the air as he glared hatefully at Kuzui. His eyes were shining with a green light. Kuzui remained on the ground, but his body began to emanate a green aura, his muscles bulging in response.

"Is this what you want?" Izuku yelled as he pointed both of his hands at Izuku, blasting him with sheer brute force, Kuzui barely managing to resist. After ten seconds or so, the barrage ended. Kuzui smirked as he warped in front of Izuku, fist pulled back in preparation for the punch to end punches. Izuku stared at the hand inching itself towards him. Right before contact was made, Izuku appeared behind Kuzui, driving a kinetic blast right to his back, shooting him forwards. Kuzui collided with the seemingly impenetrable wall of the room, causing it to flicker once again, this time much stronger.

Kuzui stood up to brush off the blood on his nose as he sent a kick towards Izuku, pushing a blade of wind towards him. Izuku blocked the flying wind blade with a kinetic barrier. Izuku was floating higher and higher while Kuzui remained grounded.

Energies swirled around Izuku as he looked down at Kuzui, glaring at him. Kuzui couldn't help but grin with utter glee.

"It's working!" Kuzui shouted as he jumped towards the flying Izuku, trying to uppercut his jaw. Izuku erected a barrier right before he could, but Kuzui simply appeared above him, punching Izuku's head instead of his jaw, sending him flying downwards.

[25% To Fusion]

Izuku stood up and flew towards Kuzui at break-neck speeds, Kuzui doing the same thing.

Collision course.

The moment they made contact, they fused into each other in a blinding light. Izuku and Kuzui melted together slowly as a swirling aurora encompassed them both.

The moment the fusion was over, the finished product stood up. He looked just like Izuku, only one of his eyes shined with a nebula while the other was a black hole.

Fusion took a breath as he looked at his hand, turning it around.

"This form... I feel like I can only maintain it for a few hours..."

Izuku concentrated before summoning a bright ball the size of a soccer ball in front of him.

"About 12.56495 gigajoules... A drop in the bucket," Fusion smirked. He internalized the energy ball once again, revitalizing himself. He sent an energy blast towards one of the walls of his room, shattering it completely.

Izuku woke up.

But not as Izuku. Nor as Kuzui.

He was Fusion. An amalgam of both forms.

He stood there, same as ever, in that hospital room where his mother just got kidnapped. He checked the time. About seven at night. He'd lose his Fusion form and break apart in the next two hours. It could be even earlier if he exerts himself tremendously.

Izuku ran out of the room, down the stairs, then out of the hospital, and continued running, this time while his quirk aided him.

He stopped on a random street that was completely abandoned.

"I wonder... If flight is truly possible... or even safe for that matter," He muttered to himself.

Wrapping himself with green energy, he began to push himself upwards. The orientation was tough, but the calculative power that Izuku's brain provided made it a relatively easy job.

Soon enough, he managed to float, propel himself forwards and backward.

"An exorbitant amount of energy used. About one gigajoule per kilometer... I require an energy source if I am to arrive at my destination," Fusion pondered. He looked around, spotting a street-lamp. He flew over to it.

With a kinetic slice, he removed the lamp, baring the loose wires. Grabbing the wires, he began to siphon all of the electrical energy out of it, charging himself.

About ten seconds later, he ceased. "This energy source is inefficient," He concluded before finding something else. He spotted a utility pole. With a little hesitation, he flew towards it and cut one wire in half, grabbing them both as he began to siphon the energy.

The utility pole became overloaded by Fusion's want for energy and began to burn. Fusion rolled his eyes as he absorbed the fire and the energy at the same time. The absorbed energy flew towards Fusion into an orb before him. The mix of energies produced a purple-red ball the size of a beach ball.

"I need more," Fusion concluded as he began to siphon the burning telephone wire more intensely, producing more heat energy due to the resistance created when the current is pushed. Fusion absorbed the heat energy nonetheless along with the electrical energy. The beach ball became an exercise ball, and after another minute, it was large enough to encompass Fusion's entire being. This is where he concluded.

With a closed fist, Fusion compressed the large ball of energies into one compact orb which he could grab with his hand. He 'crushed' it, absorbing the energy within. In order to prevent any rebound from the exorbitant amount of energy, he reinforced his body with his quirk as much as he could. After another moment, the energy was internalized safely.

"245.231 gigajoules... I suppose that's sufficient for my purposes," Fusion said blankly. He floated upwards, further and further until he almost reached the clouds. From his vantage point, he could spot the prefecture where the warehouse is located. With a burst of speed, he flew towards it.

PLUS - ULTRA

Fusion arrived. He stood there, silently staring at the warehouse where his mother was interred.

From the months of working with the nameless and illicit organization, he knew a lot about it. There were, for example, five permanent members. Doru, the scientist. Mistress, the apparent boss. Kouma, the PR-guy responsible for finding and bringing people in. Boru and Imigaki were the security guys.

From what he knew, their quirks were as follows. Doru had something regarding warping, also having the ability to warp other people to other places. The limitations of that were unknown to him. Mistress almost never used a quirk, but it had something to do with telekinesis. Whatever the particulars were, they were hidden.

Imigaki and Boru were easy because they always trained with Izuku, testing the limits of his quirk. Imigaki had the ability to return/reflect attacks given to him while Boru could erect barriers as strong as glass, but he could modify the thickness of the barriers. A ten-inch wall of glass isn't something easily penetrated, much less ten, which seemed to be his upper limit.

Kouma was a tough one. He seemed to lean towards future-prediction. Whatever the case, he wasn't a combatant. More like the strategian.

He had to go down first.

If Katsuki could overpower Mistress, Fusion could too.

The biggest issue was Doru. Even she could take out Katsuki by just warping behind him, and then inject whatever toxin that she wanted. Although he was taken by surprise, that's still a deadly quirk and one that Fusion will have to exercise extreme caution when around.

And what about the wild cards?

Fusion wasn't stupid.

If Doru hadn't installed any fail-safes in him, he'd be damned. She created his quirk. She could also definitely do something to control him. Fusion quickly did a full-body scan with his energy-voyance, searching every nook and cranny of his body, but finding nothing. "Peculiar."

Maybe they had more combatants. Although Izuku never encountered another successful test subject, it was no secret that they continued experimentation. If anything, the loud shrieks from the background confirmed that.

If there were any more monsters like Izuku, then he'd have to exercise full caution.

Then, he began to consider his own value.

Izuku was by far one of the most successful test subjects by a long shot if Doru's praise was any indication.

This was important because it would leave room for negotiations. Izuku knew little about negotiating, but he had only a single bottom line. His mother's complete and utter safety, and her not having even been harmed. Bonus points if she isn't even conscious.

All else could die in a ditch.

Fusion had already made up his mind to one day destroy the organization, but the leverage was too high. It was something that couldn't be risked. Perhaps one day he'd make it a point to destroy them before they could spill his one secret and ruin his reputation.

Fusion would never allow that to happen. Not even over his dead body.

With all this out of the way, Fusion stepped forward, walking at a normal pace. He didn't even bother to open the door as he blasted it off its hinges. On the inside of the well-lit building was a masked Mistress, Doru and his mother sleeping mid-air horizontally.

"Good evening, Midoriya Izuku..."

Fusion just nodded. He noticed that Doru had a somewhat hurt look on her face.

"As you can see," Mistress began. "We're giving you back your mother completely unharmed. The question, however, that remains is your continued support of our organization."

Fusion hesitated for a second before replying. "I will make no guarantees until my mother is safely put under my custody."

Mistress willed his mother to return to her son, releasing her hold on her, Fusion taking over from there.

"Both Kouma and Doru will be dealt with severely. I apologize on both of their behalfs. And also... regarding your break, we will sanction it. You may rest until your mother recovers."

Mistress looked over at Doru, who winced slightly at her prodding gaze, penetrating even her mask.

"This is too easy," Fusion stated before scanning his mother top til toe, finding nothing wrong with her.

"Like I implied, this stunt wasn't pulled by the organization officially. Only two rogue members that acted out of self-interest. We are willing to compensate you," Mistress said appeasingly.

Fusion considered this for a moment, let out a short sigh of relief before turning around with his mother in a telekinetic orb.

"Wait!" Doru shouted. Fusion turned around, staring menacingly at Doru. "I-is this the mutation speaking, o-or Izu-chan?" She asked.

"Neither and both," Without another word, Fusion took off, leaving a confused Doru and an emotionless Mistress. Now that Izuku was gone, Mistress pointed her hand at Doru, locking her in space.

"It's time for your punishment, isn't it...? How about no air... for three minutes?"

Doru was screaming, but nobody could hear it but her.

PLUS - ULTRA

Fusion had returned his mother to her ward, safe and sound as he made his way to his three-story house in Korusant prefecture.

Through a dimly-lit street that was relatively abandoned, he saw a group of three gangsters accosting a young man wearing a flower-patterned shirt, sunglasses despite it being night, torn jeans and seemed to be armed.

Fusion got closer on principle, intending on breaking up the fight.

"Whoa, there, big boy. You're making me cry!" The teenager said as a larger and more imposing man continued to push him.

Fusion was just about to intervene, but the boy grabbed the offending arm, twisted it and pulled out his gun as he aimed at his head, pulling the trigger, eliciting a simple click sound.

The man began to smile as he was about to stand up, but the boy shot the gun in the air, scaring the man lifeless. He aimed at his head again and pulled the trigger, sounding another click, relieving the gangster. Then he shot in the air again.

"Ridiculous luck much?" The boy deadpanned. He aimed at his own head and pulled the trigger, and another click sounded.

"Guys, let's dip. This kid's fucked in the head!"

The rest of the gangsters scattered as the one the boy held was cowering on the floor, begging for mercy.

"That's enough!" Fusion shouted. The boy looked up at the floating kid that seemed to be his age, simply pointing the gun at him firing a bullet as the gangster trapped in his hold escaped.

"Fuck off," said the boy in a bored tone. Izuku stood still, letting the bullet hit him. He absorbed the kinetic energy of said hit with much difficulty but managed to siphon its energy before it could penetrate into him. The bullet dropped to the ground, not even having been deformed.

"Bulletproof? Well, that's a fuckin' turn off" The boy muttered.

"You shot at me. Are you aware I could have died?" Fusion said with no small amount of hatred in his voice. The boy smiled as he tossed away his gun.

"You'd have bled a little, yeah. Anyways, forgive and forget, yeah, hombre?! Listen, the name's Johnny. I'm hunting down these gangsters. Pa told me they've been fucking up our business, scaring away the strippers and saturating the community with drugs. Wanna join? I can tell you need to blow off some steam!" Johnny said, lifting up his sunglasses.

Fusion's expression eased slightly. He did need to blow off some steam. God knew that this night was a total blue-ball.

He simply nodded as he grounded himself, walking towards Johnny. He bowed slightly to him.

"Nice to meet you," Fusion said blankly.

"You Japs are a funny people. Just say 'what's up!'" Johnny said in English, slightly confusing Fusion. He chose not to deign to reply seriously, instead opting to get right to business.

"I'm an Esper. My abilities center around dynakinetics, the ability to manipulate and absorb energies. I can exert force, but only through the energy stored in my body. My energy capacity in its fullest is at about 250 gigajoules, which is equivalent to combusting 50 barrels of crude oil, to put it into perspective. I can't go on forever, and any amount of energy which I store to replace old energy thus lessens my calculative prowess-"

"Are you done? I invited you to bash some skulls!" Johnny said, his pinky digging into his ear as he stared at Fusion, unimpressed. "I don't give a fuck how you'll do it, hombre. Just fucking do it."

Fusion stared blankly at the boy's rudeness before opting to speak. "Where do we begin?"

PLUS - ULTRA

Johnny led Izuku to a dilapidated building which was the stronghold for a competing gang which contained a multitude of prostitutes, weapons, and shady characters. The infiltration began when Johnny threw in a flashbang grenade, blinding everyone in a bright and flashing light.

From the ceiling Johnny came in, shooting everyone he could with tranquilizing darts, knocking a fourth of the gang unconscious before Fusion turned up, wreaking havoc, setting fire to the local electricity wire to feed his energy needs, then knocking everyone unconscious by creating domes around the gangsters, suffocating them for at least a minute.

When the boss of the gang came in, all of his men were already down. Once he spotted the two teens, he grew furious, growing into some kind of anthropomorphous rhinoceros.

Fusion sucked in the surrounding energy, intent on unleashing it on the gang leader. The room darkened in energy as a single orb concentrated in front of him. Seconds later, the orb shot itself towards the gang leader, who used his horn to block, somehow absorbing the impact into it.

"Hah! Talk about 'on-the-nose', right?" Johnny quipped in English, confusing Fusion, who was busily surveying the new foe. The energy was within the horn, doing nothing, but Fusion could tell that there was something else he was missing.

"How dare you go against me?! I own this entire neighborhood! You'll die right here, by my hand, for your insolence!" The gang leader yelled, spittle flying from his mouth as he scraped his foot on the ground backwards, preparing to charge.

And charge he did, almost too fast for his foes to react. Fusion smirked as he used almost half of his available energy to blast the rhino again. The blast stopped his charge, but the energy was nonetheless absorbed into his horn.

This time, the change was evident. The rhino-man began to grow in size, his clothes almost ripping apart, only his shorts remaining as he doubled- no, tripled in size, almost touching the ceiling with his head. "Ah, it has been too long since I have felt this... big! You are a fool, little boy. Keep feeding me those, and I could even wrestle a kaiju!"

Bad news.

"Fuckin' A, bomberman. Now you got him suped up!" Johnny cursed under his breath as his frown deepened. "Bullets won't work on him, and explosions make him grow! We found ourselves our natural enemy." The Rhino continued to charge as he talked, but the two boys would easily out-maneuver his increased stature.

Fusion reviewed his options. Since energy and explosions are out of the picture, he needed to use his quirk to drain him of the energy, but his draining skills were still horrible, especially from a distance. It was either everything in a given radius around his hands or nothing, and he wasn't looking forward to freezing his companion to death. Neither was he okay with freezing the rhino man to death, but he knew he'd hold himself back appropriately.

Feeding energy wasn't all that he could do, however. He could take just as much as he could give. His aim, currently, was still crude, but the Rhino man was large. Fusion couldn't miss.

"Apologies. I will attempt to preserve your life to the best of my abilities while you suffer." Fusion _pulled_ , the energy in the room heading its rightful sovereign as it rushed into him, lowering the temperature in the room. Fusion stopped holding back from absorbing from living creatures now, removing the mental limiter, or at least disabling it temporarily. The rhino began moving slower as it started to freeze up, its joints locking up brutally.

"What are you doing to me?! I'm so cold! I will die!"

"Calm down. Become small, or you will truly die," Fusion threatened, the cold in the room causing his breath to condense into a cloud. The rhino fell on his knees, the frost having truly taken him over. He grew smaller and smaller, letting the energy he absorbed expel from him, steaming the room up. Fusion absorbed the heat, keeping the room deathly cold, the rhino now completely incapacitated and dangerously cold. He was unconscious, though he would die if left alone. Fusion pressed his hand on the rhino's chest, his shirt tattered by his side, inserting some heat into him, enough to sustain bodily functions. On the same note, he revitalized all the other unconscious gangsters with energy to sustain them from death, cursing his forgetfulness regarding their presence.

Johnny shivered in an exaggerated fashion.

"You're not joking. I really could have died... You're kinda terrifying."

He looked towards the rhino, beaming as he looked at Fusion.

"That was awesome!" Johnny yelled as he tried high-fiving Fusion, who looked at his hand in disgust. Johnny lowered his hand without missing a beat. "As expected from the Orudera Spirit of Fire Boy... hehehe!" Johnny held his stomach as he began to laugh. Fusion raised an eyebrow at that.

"I guess you've heard of us, then," Fusion said.

"'Us'?" Johnny asked. Fusion shook his head.

"Nothing," Fusion muttered. "Johnny... As I've helped you with your enemies, surely you wouldn't mind joining me to take down this other organization someday...?"

"Sure thing. Just call me when you're ready!" He said as he removed his phone from his pocket and typed in his own number before showing it to Izuku who then added the number to his contact.

Fusion had to pause for a second afterward. Johnny was offering himself so readily, not even asking what kind of organization it was. It was all very suspicious.

"The organization is extremely dangerous. Are you sure you're willing to do this with me?"

Johnny removed a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and pushed two out, offering one to Fusion, who promptly declined. Johnny shrugged as he put one stick in his mouth, lighting it up.

"Trust me, Midoriya Izuku. If there's danger, sign me the fuck up. Might bring a friend, though. He owes me a favor. If it'll really be that dangerous, that is," He said, blowing a cloud of smoke into the air. Fusion nodded.

Thus, Fusion returned home and split apart into both Izuku and Kuzui, lying on the bed, completely exhausted.

"That... that was... exhilarating!" Izuku panted.

'Tell me about it! That Johnny guy's a real cool dude!'

"At least... we didn't have... to fight them... just yet," Izuku said with a frown. Kuzui couldn't help but agree.

'Worst case scenario, both us and mom would die. It... it was a knee-jerk reaction on my part,' Kuzui conceded, surprising Izuku.

"A-are you apologizing?"

"YES, FUCKING DEKU!' Kuzui exclaimed. Izuku grinned slightly at that.

"I'm at fault as much as you are. We both got angry..."

'Alright,' Kuzui stated.

Izuku attempted to sleep, but failed, remembering how he had already absorbed an enormous fill of energy that could last him for long.

He simply went downstairs to take a look at his new house, going to the ground floor to see how the rehab gym is coming up. There were a few weight-racks here and there, an elliptical trainer and a treadmill. On the wall was a mirror.

Tentatively, Izuku took off his shirt as he looked at his physique, bummed to see how he barely had any muscles.

He raised his hand and calculated something mentally.

"It… might work, but I'll only try it on my left forearm in case something happens," Izuku muttered to himself. He closed his eyes as he accessed his quirk.

He felt his left forearm with his right hand, feeling the warmth of the energy. Then, he clenched.

Suddenly, his forearm expanded ever-so-slightly, eliciting pained grunts from Izuku who ceased immediately.

"No damage aside from…" Izuku tentatively tried to clench his left fist, unable as the muscle strain proved to be a real issue. "Muscle strain!" Izuku smiled.

He made a beeline for the kitchen as he opened the fridge, removing a pair of eggs. He hurried to the cabinet and removed a glass. He cracked the eggs (a real issue considering how he could only use his right hand to do so) into the glass, slurping the contents up in a few gulps, ignoring the peculiar taste.

"Wait…" Izuku removed a few more eggs and cracked them, removing the insides into a glass. He then put his right index finger into the glass and pumped a little energy into it.

The eggs inside the glass suddenly turned into some form of a thick omelet, an amalgam between amorphous solid and liquid.

"SO OBVIOUS!" Izuku berated himself, slapping his forehead at his idiocy. "I tried inserting some energy into the egg white so that it would become more nutritious once I eat it…"

'Eggs aren't batteries, you fucking idiot. Do you even know how you get energy from food?' Kuzui asked, causing Izuku to blush slightly in embarrassment.

"H-how?"

'FUCKING CALORIES, MAN! Nutrients! Fat-contents! The energy comes from when you digest the food! You can't just shove your finger into egg-goo and charge it with energy!' Kuzui shouted. Izuku flinched slightly in reply before he got to thinking.

'Yes, yes… that makes sense,'

'Of course it does, asshole.'

Izuku thought for a moment. There was no way for him to increase the caloric content of eggs without adding something with more calories.

The only issue was fat-burning. Although Izuku could control energy, he wasn't that advanced that he could turn his body-fat into sheer energy through combustion or something like he was some sort of human tank engine.

'But I could…' Izuku thought to himself. 'I… just need to research anatomy… physiology… I need to be more in tune with my body in order to pull it off…' Izuku thought to himself.

'But… hold on, man, but I've been meaning to ask… why are you doing this? We don't have to be physically fit. We can fly. You want a girlfriend or something?' Kuzui asked.

The teen blushed furiously.

'S-shut up! It's important for me, alright?!' Izuku justified himself furiously.

Izuku slurped up the half-cooked omelet, trying not to barf at the horrific texture and consistency.

He cleaned up after himself as much as he could, throwing the egg-shells into the bin and washing the glass before returning it to the cabinet. He was going to have to hire a maid as his mother wasn't able to do the chores anymore.

Going back to his bedroom, he began to pump his arms, his chest and his abs with energy, tearing the muscles apart, causing Izuku to grunt in pain.

'What men do for beauty, huh?' Kuzui thought sardonically.

Izuku's muscles turned into mush as they slowly began to repair themselves using the protein that he consumed plus his stored fat.

All night long, Izuku barely moved an inch. He barely could, however. The required muscles were shredded after all.

* * *

 **A/N:**

1-A SYOC closed. All subsequent student OCs go right in the 1-B class.

Teacher SYOC closed.

Had no wifi so I couldn't post any chapter. Double chapter day. Expect another chapter within the next 10-20 minutes.


	7. Chapter 7 - A Confession To My Class

Chapter 7 - A Confession To My Class

* * *

Dawn broke. Izuku was still slowly healing. Turns out that while destroying his muscles did indeed create more, and was a lazy but efficient way to become ripped, the sheer pain of it was something Izuku didn't want to experience again.

He overdid it. He could admit it. He still wasn't in a state to move, but it was a Monday. He had to. After all, this would be the first day in school after the whole apartment fire thing.

The police were going to send a full investigation report to the Midoriya household once his mother was back home. Izuku didn't want to think back to the fire. He was already content knowing that his family was safe and sound. Izuku didn't need anything else.

As Izuku was still in a state of muscular strain, he used his quirk wherever he could. Putting on clothes? Quirk. Brushing his teeth? Quirk. Showering? Definitely his quirk. It wasn't as much because of sheer laziness as it was because he literally couldn't otherwise.

He made an impromptu breakfast by drinking some eggs and making some baked beans, using his quirk that is, just for the extra protein needed for his muscles. He also made a mental note to go buy some whey after school just to speed up the process.

As it was, he could barely walk, so he used his quirk to emulate a sorta walk where he moved his legs while keeping his torso upright with his quirk. The control took some time to get down, but once he did, he looked marginally like a human being.

The moment Izuku stepped foot into the school compound, chatters ceased as all eyes were on the hero hopeful.

Izuku ignored the stares of adulation as he continued ahead. The crowds made way wherever he went.

Once he entered his homeroom, he looked at the blackboard, seeing a beautiful drawing of his name in Kanji, and a big 'welcome' above it as well as a multitude of drawings of flowers and rainbows.

"WELCOME BACK, MIDORIYA-SAN!" everyone shouted. Izuku looked confused as he looked around. Ahead of everyone stood the female class rep, Karin, giving him a wide smile. Izuku couldn't help but feel a slight sense of resentment looking at her. Izuku couldn't spot Bakugou in the crowd, which eased his mind a little.

'She looked the other way at every case of bullying that Katsuki put me through… why is she being so friendly, now?' Izuku 'smiled' at her.

'I feel like throwing up at her shoes,' Kuzui said. Izuku couldn't help but agree.

Karin stepped forward as she gave him a card with everyone in the classroom's signatures and some short messages.

'I wish your mom good health!'

'You're gonna be a wonderful hero!'

'You're awesome, Izuku'

Izuku skimmed through the card, looking for a single word.

He never found it.

Izuku's smile almost waivered, but he kept it.

Karin stepped forward again as she put a hand on Izuku's shoulder, her face inches away from Izuku's.

'Hey, Kuzui, please take over… just don't be too harsh.' Izuku said, quickly backtracking from the increasingly awkward situation.

'Alrighty.'

"How have you been?" Karin asked, concerned.

'Izuku' looked up at her and gave her a grin while nodding. "It's been hard…" he said, reaching in for a hug which caught Karin by surprise. Without any other options, Karin hugged back.

Izuku pushed her back slightly as he turned his head away from the blushing mess that was Karin. His eyes caught on to Yusa, a relatively petite girl. He stepped forward reaching for a hug, which Yusa reluctantly reciprocated.

'What. Are. You. Doing?'

'Female contact. God knows you need it,' Kuzui 'rolled his eyes'.

'T-this is so pointless!'

Izuku backed away from the other blushing mess as he bathed in the adulation of his class.

"Hey, Midoriya-san! What's your quirk?" someone asked. Izuku immediately pointed at the boy who asked, causing him to float several meters above the ground.

"Whoa, wha?! WAIT! Let me down! Please, please!" The boy shouted, causing the class to laugh. The boy was rolling around mid-air trying to orient himself. Once the fun was over, Izuku lowered him down semi-carefully, not too careless so the boy would break his ankle, but not too careful so the boy would be able to walk without having to limp for the next few hours.

"Honestly, you guys are amazing! You all donated so much money to me? That's just amazing. Now I could finally afford to move away from this back alley district!" Izuku exclaimed.

The crowd's excitement died down slightly at that comment.

"Nah, but for real. I was attacked by a damn villain here! All your parents must be crazy if they can still send you guys to this school. Or they probably don't give a fuck about any of you," Izuku said, causing the entire crowd to gasp collectively. Even Karin looked at him in disbelief.

"Hear me out, hear me out," Izuku said, waving his hands. "Think about it. If you raised a cruel little shit that bullies a defenseless boy throughout his middle school years, you'd eventually stop caring, considering how disgusting they are. Honestly, it's like trying to domesticate a street rat." Everyone was murmuring now, casting hateful glares at Izuku.

"That was uncalled for, Midoriya-san!" Someone shouted.

Izuku turned to whoever said that and looked at him as though he just told him a joke. "Your conception was uncalled for, you fucking plebeian!"

The class was dead silent as they glared at Izuku. "I've gotten used to those glares, you know, so keep 'em coming. You know… I have faith in human goodness, to a certain degree, but you guys are snuffing out that faith more and more."

"We made up for all that, Midoriya-san!" Someone shouted. A girl. She penetrated the crowd as she glared daggers at Izuku. "We drew all that stuff on the blackboard for you! We've left you alone for months on end now! We've even made you a welcome back card! Why don't you just let it go?!"

Izuku finally lost his smile as he glared at her, causing her to shift slightly. "You guys aren't worth shit. Every single fucking one of you. Even you, Yusa!" Izuku said, pointing at the petite girl that looked to be the most innocent. She was about to tear up from the accusation, but Karin hugged her tightly.

"That was despicable, Midoriya-san!" Karin said.

"And three years of bullying isn't? Let me ask you idiots something. Anyone of you thought to write an apology letter to me? Even a fucking one-word sorry would have been better than this shit," Izuku raised the card, inducing it with energy, vaporizing it on the spot. The class gasped.

"Not a single fucking one of you bothered to say I'm sorry. Nobody gives out coal during winter, but everyone can add flowers to the wreath when it suits them. I know why you didn't want to apologize. Because the thought that you guys were the bullies consistently plague you to the point where you all would rather make up for it with trivial things and forget that you've done something horrible. Well, news-flash. None of this shit will ever disappear. You've shaped my personality, and it's all on you!"

Izuku's voice resounded across the room, brokering no room for argument. Nobody spoke, so Izuku continued.

"Every single one of you is a slothful monster because none of you helped me. I've had no friends throughout my time in this fucked up school. And now you want to make friends with the 'Quirkless Deku' because he hit it big? Fuck all of you!"

"You're nothing but a loser, Deku!" someone shouted within the crowd.

Everyone gasped as Izuku began to turn redder and redder by the moment, looking up to see the boy who said that. The crowd made way for Izuku as they split apart, revealing the boy in the crowd of students.

"That name… heheh, you could say that it… 'triggers' me," Izuku seethed as he pointed at the boy, clenching his fist. The boy suddenly began to hug himself. Izuku pulled his hand closer, causing the boy to approach Izuku at running speed. Once he was in front of Izuku, the esper grabbed him by the neck, pressing tightly.

"What's my name?" Izuku asked. The boy couldn't answer because he could. Not. Breath.

"WHAT'S MY FUCKING NAME?!" Izuku shouted. The boy began to cry as he shook, trying to break free from Izuku's telekinetic hold. Izuku finally let go, causing the boy to fall on the floor, coughing and crying. He tried to scurry off, but Izuku stepped on his foot, eliciting a pained grunt. "You didn't say my name, yet!" Izuku shouted.

The boy could bare it no longer. "I-Izuku! M-Midoriya Izuku!"

Izuku let go of the boy as he hurried deeper into the crowd. "You are all scum not even worth mentioning. I'm going to become the most famous hero to ever go down in history, and none of you will ever forget that my name is Midoriya FUCKING Izuku!" Izuku shouted.

Everyone froze as Izuku eyed the crowd with fire in his eyes. "It's too late to say sorry, now. I'm going to give you this simple warning. Get in my way, and I won't hesitate to step on you like the ants you are. And may I just mention little miss class rep Karin?" Izuku said as he stepped forward to face Karin, who couldn't help but step back unconsciously.

"The bitch that would look the other way every time 'Deku' was bullied. The bitch that would give me a hard time simply because a quirkless person could never amount to anything. The bitch that wouldn't give me the time of day whenever I had valid reasons to consult her. It's fine, though. I know for a fact that none of you will ever ignore me again." Izuku stepped forward, holding Karin still with his quirk. She began to whimper as Izuku got face to face with her, their noses almost touching as Izuku adopted a perverted grin. "Oh, and just so we're clear, Karin. I had a crush on you since our first year. Now I'd rather stick my dick in a beehive than even look at your rotten ass."

Karin began to cry. Izuku released his hold over her.

"Rub my fucking name off the blackboard. You don't deserve to have the pleasure of looking at it in my presence."

And with that, Izuku sat down. The air in the room was tense as all hell. Bakugou still hadn't arrived, and Izuku simply took that as evidence that Bakugou wouldn't be coming to school.

The school day ended eventually, with no one having talked to Izuku. Whether it was because of them shunning him or because they were just that afraid of him, Izuku didn't care. As he made his way through the hallway, Izuku called out to Kuzui internally.

'Hey…' Izuku said.

'What…? Don't tell me you're pissed.'

'No… it's just… I'm happy,' Izuku thought as he began to smile. Kuzui was slightly confused.

'I thought you wanted to make friends with those assholes?'

Izuku shook his head. His eyes were about to form tears as he replied.

'No… it's just… you're right, you know… they're despicable people. They refused to acknowledge our… history… their bullying… but it's just… you… I've never… had anyone defend me like that. Kuzui… it's like you're the first true friend I've ever had,' Izuku sent warm emotions towards Kuzui, stunning him slightly.

'It's… it's obvious that I'd consider our best interest…' Kuzui tried to justify himself.

'You didn't have to defend me like that, though… Kuzui, I've never said this before, but… I really appreciate you… you're like a brother to me,' Izuku said, almost tearfully, drying his eyes with every passing step.

Kuzui didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. Izuku could feel the warm emotions coming his way.

As Izuku was about to leave the school, a girl the other class over ran up to him. She had a heart-shaped case bound with a pink ribbon. Izuku was speechless as he looked at the unfolding scene.

"Midoriya I-Izuku! My name is Yoshihara Mari! P-please accept my feelings!" She said, bowing down as she offered Izuku the heart-shaped case. Izuku, not knowing what to do, simply accepted the case with both hands and gave a slight bow with his head.

"Thank you," Izuku said shakily.

'Kuzui, where are you?!' Izuku thought furiously.

'She's all yours.' Kuzui stated nonchalantly.

'H-how do I turn her down?'

'Just decline her!'

"I-I'm afraid I don't share any feelings with you, Yoshihara-san," Izuku stated.

The girl in front of him had twin-ponytails, each with cutesy ribbons. She had wide eyes that gave her an air of cuteness commonly found in anime and manga. Other than that, she was a complete loli.

Despite her rejection, she didn't look dejected at all.

"Yosh! I'll try again another time!" She said as she ran away.

Izuku looked at her weirdly.

'Okay, now that was weird.' Kuzui muttered.

'S-she… I GOT CONFESSED TO!' Izuku thought, blushing furiously as he smiled.

'Focus, lover-boy. You were gonna buy some whey, weren't you? Also, mom's checking out from the hospital today."

"You're right!" Izuku exclaimed as he ran out of the compound.

PLUS – ULTRA

Izuku made it a point to always be around his mother before and after school, exercising along with her, one step at a time. After a week of torturous muscular tearing, Izuku was finally beginning to exhibit results. His abdominal muscles were beginning to show faint traces while his chest was slightly bigger, jutting outwards by a few millimeters more than it used to. The improvement wasn't too obvious, but Izuku noticed, and it did a lot to help his self-esteem.

'Again, we don't need muscles,' Kuzui intoned bored. Izuku couldn't help but roll his eyes.

'I'm not stopping, Kuzui,' Izuku said, smiling at the improvement as he flexed his almost-muscles in front of the mirrors.

'Alright. Brace for muscle-tearing!' Izuku said as he pumped energy into his upper body muscles, tearing most of them to shreds, disabling his ability to use them momentarily. Izuku bit back the pain as he stood up using his quirk. He made his way to the fridge, emptied it as he cooked himself a five-egg omelet with four slices of cheese, four cubes of butter, some kale and half a cup of whey for good measure.

One thing that Izuku had learned was that his muscular tearing had driven his metabolism into overdrive. He was much hungrier, almost all the time, actually. Even between legitimate meals and snack-time, he was voracious. His meals averaged at the better part of a single kilogram of sheer foodstuffs for every meal, and that was barely enough to make up for all the muscles he kept on tearing.

On the bright side, he barely had any body-fat in him, which did wonders to show off his new muscles. He looked at the monstrosity and stood there thinking. Reaching an epiphany, he levitated a dash of salt and began to sprinkle it on the food.

'Can't forget sodium.' Izuku thought absently.

'That looks absolutely fucking disgusting.' Kuzui commented.

'Taste is irrelevant. Where else am I going to get the sheer protein needed to build my muscle?' Izuku replied.

'What about your heart? That cholesterol's gotta be bad for you.' Kuzui asked.

'I'll figure that out once I research more about my anatomy. The pain gets my blood pumping, anyway, so I don't think I'll be at risk of heart attack.'

'Whatever,' Kuzui drawled as he receded back to his corner.

Once his monster-meal was done, he drank a cup of protein-shake, filling his stomach to maximum capacity.

As he made his way over to the gym, he saw his mother walking between two railings, assisted by a middle-aged woman who acted as her personal trainer. The moment the PT saw Izuku, she gave him a smile and a short report.

'This is her third round!' She beamed.

Izuku smiled. "Fight on, mom! Just two more!" Izuku cheered her on. Inko looked behind and smiled at her beloved son.

"Will… do!" She panted. Izuku went over, walking besides her. Every step she'd take, Izuku would clap, encouraging her to continue further.

Once the exercise was over and Inko was back on her wheel-chair, she rolled over to hug her son.

"I-I don't know… what I'd… have done without you!" She said, crying at his shoulders. "You don't know how infinitely proud I am of you! I wouldn't trade you for the world!" She cried.

Izuku's heart fluttered as he hugged her back. 'Don't worry, mom. Because… I'm here.' Izuku thought to himself. 'We're here.'

After dinner, Izuku went up to his room and looked at a stack of papers on his computer desk.

The police report.

'You haven't checked it out, yet…' Kuzui noted absently. Izuku shook his head.

'What's there to check out?' Izuku asked, scowling at the stack of papers.

'You know… maybe the organization… I dunno, set us up?'

'How could we know that based on a police report?' Izuku asked, slightly confused.

'If the fire was an act of arson, there's a high chance that it was them.' Kuzui pointed out. Izuku mulled it over but couldn't find any reason to open it.

'Look, what's done is done. We survived. We're doing good-'

'Only mom was severely injured. You can't just let that slide.'

Izuku scowled at the paper. He'd been putting it off for long enough. He sat down to read through the report, turning paper after paper of dead-end investigations before reaching the conclusion.

Electrical fire. Turns out some fool overloaded a few power sockets. Izuku remembered the home-made generator that he was making and the other science-y stuff that he made pertaining to his quirk. They were electricity intensive, yes, but nowhere near levels of electrical fires. He made sure of that.

'I guess that cracks the case. It was an electrical fire. Bad wiring on the apartment block's side. Plenty of cause to litigate, too. I bet the former tenants are having a blast suing the apartment block company for all their money's worth.'

The green-haired teen let out a sigh of relief as he fell tummy down on his bed, preparing for a new day, letting his torn muscles regenerate.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Second chapter today!**

 **Alright, here's the deal. I'm feeling a writer's block coming and I need your help. Review where you want me to take the story.**


	8. Interlude 1 - Lord Explosion Murder

Interlude 1 – Lord Explosion Murder

* * *

Bakugou brought this on himself.

Whether it was his sense of duty speaking or his wish for attention, Bakugou made himself the successor to All Might. What he didn't know was that along with his title, Bakugou would receive his quirk.

"What?" Bakugou asked, completely dumbfounded. Bakugou and the top hero of Japan were on a beach littered with junk of all shapes and sizes. All Might was dangling a hair in front of Bakugou, grinning widely at his protégé.

"Eat it! In order to inherit my quirk, you will have to take in my DNA!" All Might roared.

"Will my quirk disappear?" Bakugou asked, slightly concerned. "Can someone actually have two quirks at once?"

"Hahaha! A valid concern, however, I will refute that!" He yelled. "One for All will work together with your quirk and amplify it. That is how the last seven successors became so notorious. If they had used the quirk as it was then, they would be nothing but slightly more powerful, but I have cultivated the quirk as far as I can such that even when used by a quirkless, the strength stocked up will be enough to defeat even a kaiju!"

Bakugou winced, but steeled himself as he took the hair and swallowed it whole, willing himself to not barf.

"Young Bakugou, you are quite an impressive youth!" All Might boomed. "Before training even began, your frame is strong enough to handle the sheer brute force of our quirk! Coupled with your explosion quirk, you might even become among the top ten heroes of the world, let alone Japan!" He shouted as he slapped Bakugou on his back.

"I wouldn't settle for any less!" Bakugou shouted, fired up once again.

"It is great that you're so excited, because my next task for you is to clean this beach up!"

"What?!" Bakugou shouted indignantly.

"Are you saying that you're not capable of doing so?" All Might asked as he walked over to a fridge. "Or is it that this isn't your ideal hero's task? Listen, kiddo. Back in my day…" All Might's large hand held the fridge, flattening it down as he spoke. "The heroic things were usually the small stuff. The things that everybody can remain happy looking at! True heroism was putting a smile on people's faces! Remember this. Just like charity:" All Might said as the fridge was flattened to a tenth of its width. "HEROISM BEGINS AT HOME!"

The fridge flattened completely with that final push, revealing the sparkling sea behind it.

"You have the power. Clear this beach in a month while I teach you basic hero behavior while riding on your back," All Might said, grinning as widely as ever.

"Wha-"

"Are you not capable, Young Bakugou?" All Might rose an eyebrow challengingly.

Bakugou regained his fire.

"WHEN ARE WE GONNA START?!"

Bakugou took his mission with open arms and did his best to do what he could do with the power given to him.

True to his task, he finished cleaning the Dagobah Municipal Beach in a month all while carrying All Might's 255-kilo body while he taught him hero behavior. As for One for All, surprising even All Might, he was able to channel 15% from the get-go, most likely because of the boy's thick-skin mutation and his general sturdiness that would be required from something as powerful as his explosion quirk.

Another thing was how he could use both quirks in unison, and that the sweat produced when using One for All actually increased in proportion with One for All. The first time Bakugou used both his quirk and One for All at 100%, he was lucky to not have permanent nerve damage. The first time he utilized what Bakugou dubbed the 'Tsar Bomba', his right arm suffered numerous third-degree burns, and even some fourth-degree burns which took longer to heal, but thankfully, his arm became just that much sturdier once it did heal, meaning that he could use the technique again without the repercussions being that severe.

Although All Might could take the full hundred percent when he first received the quirk, that was a relatively less-cultivated version of the quirk, and All Might had done serious wonders to the quirk, bringing it to heights the seven prior successors couldn't even approach.

And the task to cultivate the quirk further lay on Bakugou's hands, now, as he cleaned the beach and built his strength.

One elderly man saw him and recorded him as he cleaned the beach with herculean strength, posting it online and landing him a spot in the papers. The ensuing altercation with his mother was something he'd be hard-pressed to forget.

"Come here, Kacchan!" His mother chased after his son, smiling devilishly as she finally caught the running teen by his hair, pulling him down and pinning him to the floor as she repeatedly kissed his face. "You made me real proud, today!"

"G-get off me, you old hag!" Bakugou yelled as she tried to brute-force himself out of her mother's surprisingly tight hold.

"Who knows? Maybe you can become a hero and not just another villain!" His mother teased as she glared playfully at his son who was absolutely furious.

"Shut… shut the fuck up!" He shouted. His mother suddenly adopted a delinquent-like scowl.

"Eh..? Ora, if I've told you once," she muttered as she placed both of her hands on his neck, causing him to swallow his saliva. "…I've told you a thousand times… DON'T YOU DARE CUSS AT ME!" she slammed his head on the ground while choking him. Katsuki clawed at her hands with all of the might that he could muster against his mother, which was minimal, to say the least.

"SAY 'I'M SORRY, MOTHER!"

"I-I'M… LIKE HELL I'M GONNA SAY THAT!" Katsuki roared back.

"WHAT?!" She yelled as she used her other hand to pinch his cheek.

His one weakness.

"I-I… I'M SORRY MOM!" He yelled, swallowing his pride.

"I DIDN'T HEAR YOU SAY MOTHER!"

"MOTHER, MOTHER!"

Needless to say, Bakugou Katsuki wouldn't admit, not even under the threat of death, that what transpired had actually happened.

PLUS - ULTRA

One day, on a day as ordinary as any other as they were jogging together (with All Might on Bakugou's back, of course), Bakugou finally seemed to snap at something.

"Remember, Young Bakugou. Whenever someone belittles someone in order to feel good about themselves, they are the ones who need help, because oftentimes it is their lack of self-confidence that drives them to do such things," All Might said. Bakugou frowned at that.

"That's a pathetic way to think about it. It's obvious that when someone tries to reach beyond their means, putting them back down is heroic as anything else, right?" Bakugou tried, earning a slight frown from All Might.

"Who taught you that, Young Bakugou? That makes no sense at all. In fact, that's a horrible way to approach the scenario!" All Might scolded. "There's nothing good about putting anyone down. I'm appalled that you'd even mention it. Now quit joking, and listen up," All Might said as he continued. "Their lack of self-confidence drives them to seek validation in any way possible, and by putting someone down, they will look better in comparison and will retain whatever smidgeon of self-confidence that they have," All Might lectured. Bakugou snorted.

"That makes no sense," Bakugou muttered.

"I usually don't like pulling the age-card, Bakugou, but sometimes, your elders can be right about something. I have decades of experience over you regarding heroics. I am quite certain that I'm as good of an authority as any to lecture about it."

"I'm confident…" Bakugou said to himself, almost under his breath. All Might looked at him suspiciously.

"I'm sorry?" He asked.

"I AM CONFIDENT, YOU OLD DEFLATABLE WASHOUT!" Bakugou yelled as he tipped All Might over from his shoulders and stormed off. All Might looked at him seriously before running in front of him in the blink of an eye, cutting of his route.

"Is there something you're not telling me, Young Bakugou?" All Might prodded, crossing his arms.

"What's wrong about putting weak idiots beneath yourself?! That's all they're good for after all, right?! I'm the star, not them!" Bakugou shouted.

All Might placed a gentle hand on Bakugou's shoulder, giving him a warm grin. "You can tell me anything."

Bakugou glared at the ground. He was by no means an idiot, so he knew how little rationality his arguments carried. He had his pride, however, but it, too, soon began to waver as he realized that it was better to be truthful about his mistakes than deluded.

Thus came his first admission of guilt since he stepped into this world.

"I-…I think… I might have done something wrong…" Bakugou began.

Thus came the story of a quirkless youth and a boy with a powerful quirk. One was defenseless and the other was naturally predisposed to heroics. One bullied the other all the way up to middle school while the other accepted the abuse. All Might listened, nodding along at every turn of the story.

Eventually, once it reached its conclusion, All Might still had the bright grin he always sported.

"Young Bakugou, remorse is a beautiful feeling. It drives us to do good by others. You do good by this young lad. Change your ways, Young Bakugou. You cannot erase history, but you can rise above it."

Bakugou was almost tearing up as the guilt began to chew out his heart more and more intensely.

"I'll try," Bakugou promised.

And promise he did. Bakugou did indeed try to reach out to Izuku. Once Bakugou truly opened his eyes to Izuku's mistreatment, he noticed something horrible.

Izuku was being too quiet.

Ever since that horrible episode about the sludge villain, Izuku had completely given up on his murmuring, note-writing and generally being the annoying De-… Izuku that he always was.

The moment Bakugou approached Izuku, the boy's first question stopped Bakugou on his tracks, sending a spike of guilt straight through the explosion-quirk user's heart.

"Are you going to bully me again?"

Bakugou was shocked, obviously. He had already decided to tackle that part of his history with Izuku head-on, but the sheer confrontation of reality caused Bakugou to recoil severly, looking at the ground guiltily, not daring to meet eyes with his tormentee.

He was just about to apologize before Izuku interrupted him.

"And I'm guessing All Might has taught you all this etiquette."

Izuku knew.

That fucking Deku knew.

How?

Bakugou blanched. Before he could get a word in edgewise, Izuku continued.

"Don't worry. You go on your yellow road to the number one spot. And one last thing: ten years of bullying doesn't get rectified in a single statement."

Before Bakugou could even think about questioning him, Izuku took off. Bakugou stared blankly into the air. The green-haired teen's words rang true, but the bigger issue was his knowledge of that secret.

Bakugou knew that Izuku wasn't bad enough to reveal a secret involving his idol hero, so he wasn't truly worried about that part. It was just that last part.

Ten years.

'It's really been that long.'

Ten years of just bullying. Izuku has had it hard.

Bakugou simply had to work harder.

PLUS – ULTRA

Izuku continued existing, his grades suffering and his expression always blank. Bakugou had a suspicion, but he couldn't act on it. It was simply too horrific to think about.

The suspicion became more and more well-founded as Izuku trudged on, disregarding life almost entirely.

Suicidal tendencies.

Bakugou didn't want to accept the fact, and he could almost say that he was… afraid of admitting it, but the moment his train of thought strayed towards that direction, something inside of him clicked.

Bakugou Katsuki doesn't feel fear. Fear is an obstacle.

In that moment of fearlessness and clarity, Bakugou swallowed the bitter medicine that his childhood bullying victim could be considering suicide. The thought of it almost drove him to tears, and became the catalyst of another mother-son fight within the Bakugou household.

Izuku was going to kill himself if this continued. It was a conclusion that he came to, backed by his friends who thought of similar things.

That wasn't going to slide with Bakugou.

Thence the second confrontation.

Bakugou jumped straight to the point.

"I'll ask you once: Are you suicidal?"

Bakugou turned off his fear-button and jumped straight in, willing himself to take it like a man despite whatever answer he would get.

Izuku's cryptic answer came with a gentle smile and a shake of his head, almost driving Bakugou over the edge of simply man-handling the little rascal.

The words, however, were spoken with utmost calmness and sincerity, despite its morbidness.

"I have a goal I need to fulfill. Towards that end, I will sacrifice my life if need be."

What the fuck?

Bakugou knew what he was talking about. He still wanted to become a hero.

This wasn't the right way to go at it, though, whatever Izuku was planning ahead of himself. The sense of finality in his words simply compounded the sheer peril that he was going to put himself through, and Bakugou didn't have to be All Might levels of compassionate to know that.

And the ensuing altercation began with a blast. Izuku smiled gently as he talked. Bakugou began to bare his teeth in anger.

Then, Izuku mentioned All Might.

"Without a quirk… How could I ever imitate the All Might that we both love so much?"

'We both love so much.'

Despite their rocky relationship, Izuku and Katsuki were once friends.

Two kindergartners, as innocent as could be.

Katsuki was sitting on the swing, reading a magazine as a green-haired boy approached him from behind, tapping at his shoulder.

Katsuki whipped his head back and glowered at him, causing him to recoil slightly.

"What do you want?" Katsuki asked gruffly. Izuku maintained a shaky smile as he went up to point at the hero on the magazine, a flexing All Might.

"That picture… it's All Might, right?"

Katsuki huffed snobbily as he turned his head back to continue reading.

"W-why are you staring at the picture for so long?" Izuku asked, eliciting a confused look from Katsuki.

"I'm not just looking at the picture. I'm reading the article next to it," Katsuki explained. "Are you stupid or something?"

"You can read?" Izuku asked, eyes shining as he looked at the article intensely, but not being able to glean any information out of it.

"Yeah, can't you?" Katsuki asked flippantly.

"That's really cool! You're really cool, uh…"

"Katsuki. Bakugou Katsuki," Katsuki said, smiling devilishly at the boy's praise.

"My name is Izuku. Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you!"

Both of them loved All Might. They also loved heroism, but that's where all of their correspondences ended.

For the first time in years, Bakugou suddenly felt that much closer to Izuku. They truly weren't that different, after all. Thence came Bakugou's first true apology.

"I'm sorry, Izuku!"

Bakugou kept on apologizing, trying to get his point across. He could never become a hero like All Might if he couldn't own up to his own faults, and Izuku of all people deserved least of all the things he had been through.

Without noticing, Bakugou began to cry.

Then Izuku did it.

He looked down on him.

He reached in to touch Bakugou's face and dried his tears with his hands, giving him an encouraging smile. All the pain that he had been through, and all the pain that he was currently experiencing, and he still had room in his heart to dry the tears of the boy who was apologizing to him.

Bakugou was beginning to feel like a monster for having bullied such an earnest boy.

It was the same look he gave him when he was inside the sludge villain. The same look and helping hand he gave him ten years prior, when young Katsuki tripped over the slope and fell into the shallow river.

Izuku never had the ability to help any of those times but give an encouraging smile. He hadn't a quirk nor a special attribute to him that could truly make a difference but his smile and encouragement.

Bakugou then realized.

Izuku would truly have made a wonderful hero.

Bakugou continued to contemplate things as Izuku left the classroom to the blond, who had only one mission in mind.

Prevent Izuku's death.

Everything after that afternoon was a blur.

He woke up the next day on a Saturday in a hospital ward. All Might had delivered him there and had informed his parents that he had suffered a hit and run and broke both of his arms.

He knew better, of course.

Something happened, and Bakugou was going to find out what that exactly was.

Wait, what about Izuku?

A sudden shock jolted him awake as he desparately got of the hospital bed and limped down the hallway. As he made a turn, he saw All Might in his deflated form almost run into him.

"Young Bakugou, what are you doing? You should be resting-"

"I-I need to check on someone!" Bakugou replied frantically as he tried breaking through All Might's restraining arms, to little avail. Whoever said All Might didn't possess above average strength in his true form obviously didn't know him.

"If it's Young Midoriya, I can assure you that he's fine."

What? Was All Might involved in what happened yesterday? Come to think of it, he did end up in the hospital inexplicably. Someone had to take him.

"Y-yesterday, w-what exactly happened?" Bakugou asked. All Might raised an eyebrow.

"You don't remember? I'm guessing that fight you had with your friend probably did do more than just break your arms," All Might mused.

Bakugou really didn't know what was happening. Bakugou sure as hell couldn't end up that beaten up from fighting a quirkless Izuku, so that didn't make any sense at all.

"Fight?"

"Didn't you do just that? Fight Izuku in order to settle the score with him? Although, Bakugou, it wasn't very mature that you let him win, considering how he only had superficial wounds while you seemed devastated," All Might chuckled.

Bakugou was understanding any of this. He took a deep breath before going to speak.

"No, no… Izuku is quirkless. He doesn't have a quirk. Any fight I would have with him would end in a one-sided slaughter… And I'm not one to ever hold back, so I'd never let him win without my full resistance," Bakugou explained to a now-confused All Might.

"…I saw him warp out of the warehouse. If that wasn't a quirk, I don't know what else is…" All Might said.

"You're seeing things, old man. You must be at death's door," Bakugou muttered as he turned back and returned to his hospital ward, not even bothering to consider the things that All Might had 'seen'.

PLUS – ULTRA

Nothing of real significance occurred after that. Izuku's mood balanced out, minus the constant bullying, which Bakugou made sure to cease, with extreme prejudice to any fucker who'd dare to raise a hand against the resident quirkless. In only a week, Izuku became untouchable, and any idiot bright enough to try, be it in any of the other classes, Bakugou would rain hell upon them, making sure to give them a long lecture afterwards about how bullying is wrong.

Bakugou didn't sense the irony of that.

The blond finally smiled, self-satisfied by how he had finally done right by his childhood friend, or so he believed.

Without preamble, the apartment fire occurred. Bakugou was seething in anger that anything bad could have happened to aunt Inko, or even Izuku for that matter, so the moment he saw the fire, he ran towards the apartment block as quickly as he could, penetrating through the thick barrier of people ogling the spectacle as though it was some sort of bizarre pyromaniac act.

The moment he got through the crowd, a stumbling Izuku walked out… with seventeen people encased in translucent bubbles in tow, one bubble containing his mother, and that bubble being larger than any of the others. Izuku pushed his hands forward and lay the seventeen burn-victims on the front of the apartment block where a dozen firefighters immediately mobilized and secured the victims.

Izuku then closed his eyes…

But remained standing up. His eyes opened slightly, but there was no light in them, as though he wasn't even conscious.

What he did next, Bakugou would never forget until the day he died. Confusion wracked him as one immortal truth was suddenly beginning to crumble.

Izuku was quirkless.

The cognitive dissonance was very hard to break through and Bakugou clenched onto that notion with all of his might, not even trying to consider otherwise, but eventually, he did.

'Is that so bad?' Bakugou thought for a moment, though, trying to admonish himself for not being able to rationalize something that was clearly ahead of him.

Is it? Finally, Izuku could realize his dream and become a hero, and all it took was one… charred… mother… and a lifetime of bullying… and an attempted suicide.

On second thought, Bakugou was going to have to keep a close watch on him. It was also especially due to the sheer firepower of his quirk.

The event concluded with much fanfare and all at once, Bakugou had been completely outshined.

Bakugou tried to keep his chin up as he dealt with Izuku's ordeals in the only way he could, by apologizing and making things better.

He thought he had finally done right by him, but he guess Izuku still felt bitter, despite how much Bakugou didn't believe that he was capable of feeling something like that.

Bakugou was never one to feel inhibition, so he spent his first visit to Izuku's hospital ward only to pose a single question.

"Have you manifested a quirk?"

Bakugou knew the answer, but he had to hear it from Izuku first.

He replied in the positive.

"When was this?" He asked.

"About a month ago,"

Without even thinking, Bakugou continued, glaring daggers unconsciously at the poor, green-haired burn-victim.

"And why didn't you tell me?"

Then came Izuku's sudden explosion.

"LIKE I OWE YOU SHIT!"

Bakugou grew a tick on his forehead as he was about to give him a piece of his mind before remembering that this was Izuku.

Then the realization dawned that this was Izuku.

Before he could say anything more, Izuku cut in with a meek 'sorry', turning his demeanor by a full 180.

Bakugou began to doubt his 'friend's' sanity for a brief moment before banishing the thought. Instead, he redirected his train of thought towards something else, like Izuku's quirk.

PLUS - ULTRA

A month ago was when the incident occurred, and with it, a complete shift in Izuku's demeanor, and most likely, it had something to do with his quirk.

Bakugou had put some stock into All Might's observation, now, because there was no way in hell that a quirkless Izuku could ever defeat him, and now that he witnessed his power, he couldn't deny it any longer.

Bakugou may have fought Izuku, and he also may have lost miserably. The thought nagged him. A part of him still felt extreme disdain for the weak dreamer while another part felt relieved that Izuku would finally overcome the misfortune that the blond had imposed on him.

But nobody beat Bakugou. His pride wouldn't allow it.

So he asked Izuku. What happened that day a month ago, when I broke my arms?

Surprisingly, Izuku lashed out again, leaving Bakugou in the hospital ward as the teen searched for his mother.

Small sparkles crackled on his palms as he quelled the rage that he felt.

'That… that little shit!'

He tried to rationalize his behavior. After all, would Bakugou be cordial to someone who made his life hell?

He walked out of the hospital without looking back, trying to forget that he ever tried to apologize to that ingrate.

The following days he attended school regularly, avoiding Izuku like the plague, his mind a fine equilibrium between feeling sorry for the boy and wanting to smash his innocent little face in.

Hence, avoiding him.

On the following Sunday, the day before Izuku was returning to school, he was battling All Might in his hero form in the Training Dream Land of U.A.

"Remember, sonny, to always go beyond your limits. That is the only way to increase your strength!" All Might said as he threw a punch at Bakugou who was twenty meters away, the air-pressure almost blowing him off his feet.

Bakugou punched the ground with sixteen percent, bleeding at the slight overstep of his 15% limit, grounding himself until the wind abated.

Once it did so, he stood up and glared at All Might, who sweatdropped in reply.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, DEKU!" Bakugou shouted as black and dark red veins slithered around his arm as he pulled back, preparing for an immense attack.

"Bakugou, my boy…" All Might said nervously. "If I didn't know any better, it would seem like you're trying to kill me-"

"THAT'S THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT!" Bakugou yelled as he brought his fist forward, fusing both his quirks. "100% One for All! TSAR BOMBA!" One for All worked alongside his quirk, boosting it to impossible levels as a twenty-meter tall and wide horizontal column of pure explosion made its way towards All Might who guarded himself, blocking the explosion and remaining unharmed by it.

All Might stared slack-jawed at the trench which the attack carved from Bakugou all the way… All Might looked behind to see that the attack had even breached the wall of the training dreamland, now a gaping hole.

All Might looked concerned at his young protégé whose hand was bleeding profusely, purple and deep-red with bone poking out. He looked to the sidelines, seeing Recovery Girl making her way towards the panting boy.

"Honestly, if I wasn't here, would you feel confident in trying something like this?" Recovery Girl asked crossly at Bakugou, who almost ignored her but remembered that doing so would be a mistake. He looked towards her and calmed down enough to speak.

"I… I'm sorry… I was just out of it… is all," Bakugou replied, earning a scowl from Recovery Girl who then puckered her lips and stretched them to kiss Bakugou's arm, healing it at the cost of his stamina.

All Might finally began to speak.

"Bakugou. I can sense that your mind is a whirlwind of unrest. Because of that, I'm hereby suspending you from any more training until you feel at peace once more," All Might declared, crossing his arms as he eyed Bakugou sternly.

Before he could muster the strength to resist his mentor's imperative, his behavioral 'training' kicked in, stifling his rage once more. Without preamble, he turned around and walked out of the training dreamland, on his way to settle the score with his childhood friend.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, so here's what's up. Just some tidbits for what's coming up.**

 **Headcanons. There will be headcanons and lots of them. If you don't like that, then I'm sorry, but there's no way that I'm gonna stick that closely to canon when Izuku isn't even going to be attending U.A. (For those who don't know, headcanons are basically when you worldbuild outside of canon, meaning that you add shit to the world that isn't in canon. For example, here's a headcanon I'm planning on using. Shiketsu High's curriculum is angled towards war-heroism, or military for short. It isn't in the canon, but that's what I'll be going with.)**

 **I will be doing heavy edits on Izuku's quirk. For one, none of that telekinesis shit. That sorta confuses it all. Here's the run-down of his quirk.**

 **Izuku can store and use energy. All kinds, actually. Chemical, electrical, mechanical, kinetic, you name it. He can store all of this energy within himself, but the more energy he stores, the more it tugs on his mind and makes him slower, and that reduces the fine control that he has on the energy stored, which would make him unstable. As a side-effect of his quirk, he has a calculator-level brain (only extends to math, weirdly enough).**

 **No matter what kind of energy he absorbs, it always becomes thermal when he stores it. He can convert the energy to kinetic energy, but it comes at a cost, so it's not 100% efficient. If he stores about 10,000 joules of thermal energy, he could at most, with intense training, use a tenth of it for kinetic energy. This is a necessary nerf because of the following.**

 **Kinetic energy is given by mass * velocity squared. If he moved a truck that was about 1000 kilograms at a velocity of ten meters per second, it would be 1000*100 (hundred because the square of ten is hundred) which would be exactly 100,000 joules or 100 kilojoules, which if converted into heat energy, it would barely be the energy output of 16 liters of oil combusting.**

 **Remember the Fusion chapter where Izuku absorbed 240 gigajoules (38,400 liters of oil combusting BTW), or rather 240,000 kilojoules, or 240,000,000 joules to be exact, that's a decent amount of firepower which could probably compare to Bakugou as he currently is. The thing is, such an amount of energy would be enough to move a 2,400 ton object at ten meters per seconds if converted into kinetic energy, which is way too fucking OP. There needs to be a reduction, therefore. 1% conversion of thermal to kinetic energy is more than enough as it currently is.**

 **If Izuku is to ever become strong enough to battle Bakugou, the walking nuke now that he has OfA, he needs to be able to focus more on his energy-absorption and usage aspect rather than chucking stuff at him by manipulating objects with kinetic energy.**

 **Other than that, he's basically the same.**


	9. Chapter 8 - Bakugou Vs Izuku

Chapter 9 – Izuku vs Bakugou

* * *

Three months passed since the apartment fire. Midoriya Inko had, over time, graduated from her wheelchair to crutches, and in the present time, she could nary be seen with even them.

Currently, she was taking a walk with her son, something that they commonly did every other day, exercising her legs. After the incident, she lost a lot of weight due to regular exercise and a strict diet meant to speed her healing process, giving her the looks she once had when Izuku was but a kindergartner.

"Izuku, have you given thought to which school you're enrolling into?" Inko asked, smiling at her son. Izuku thought for a moment.

"U.A High, of course. Shiketsu's my second choice," Izuku finally said.

"Ne, Izuku…" Inko said as she looked at the pavement, smiling in a melancholy manner. "…You're really on your way to becoming a hero… I couldn't be prouder of you…"

"Heh," Izuku chuckled slightly. "Thanks, mom…"

The Midoriyas passed two teenage girls likely older than himself. The girls chuckled at the scene of a teenager walking with his mother.

"He's so sweet," one of them said.

"Did you see his arms? He's kinda hot…"

Izuku blushed slightly at that, something which his mother spotted.

"Hey," Inko nudged him, drawing Izuku closer as she said something into his ear, grinning all the while. "Do you have a girlfriend yet?"

Izuku recoiled, waving his hands wildly.

"No, I don't!" Izuku replied, his face beet-red.

His mother looked at him with a smug grin. "Of course you don't, honey."

"I really don't!" Izuku confirmed.

'You got that Mari chick going for you, don't you?' Kuzui said with a mocking tone.

'I don't like her!' Izuku replied.

'What's wrong with her, though? She's super cute. And she likes you. You hit the jackpot, Deku,'

"I'm sure," His mother continued. "That you've been confessed to at least once."

Izuku paused, heart pounding. His mother looked back at him.

"What's wro-Oh… heheheh, my Izuku is all grown up!" Inko covered her mouth with her hand. Then, she adopted a serious expression. "Remember, Izuku. Let them down, carefully if you don't like them. Always be sensitive. The hearts of girls your age are fragile things!"

"OK, OK, Mom!" Izuku said, trying to change the topic. "I get it, I get it… let's talk about something else, now…"

"Hmm?" His mother hummed playfully as she suddenly pulled up Izuku's shirt, showing off his blocky and lean abdominal muscles neatly aligned on his almost fat-less stomach. "Like this, for example?" She asked.

Izuku quickly pulled it down, but not fast enough before some girls ahead caught sight of it, turning back and blushing furiously. "Mooom!"

"My, Izuku, you look just like a smaller All Might!" Inko said, chuckling at Izuku's red face.

The teasing continued until the Midoriyas arrived at their abode. On their front door was a delivery drone, hovering a meter above the ground.

"Recipient detected; Delivering mail!" The drone, well, droned as it hovered over to Izuku, extending a mechanical arm with a letter attached to it.

"A delivery drone? Those are expensive, aren't they?" Inko mused.

Izuku opened the envelope to read the letter. He skimmed through it quickly and started to frown.

"What does it say?"

"NOTHING!" Izuku yelled as he stuffed it into his pocket and whistled as he walked towards the door.

"Izuku," his mother gave him that look. The teen began to sweat before ultimately giving in to her stares. He removed the letter from his pocket and handed it over to her mother, who slowly turned it over, her fingers shivering due to her nerve-damage.

Once she finished reading, she looked at her son, smiling widely, infinitely proud of him. "This is amazing! They're inviting you for an interview! Izuku, you have to go!" She begged as Izuku shook his head.

"Why me? I'm nothing special…" Izuku muttered.

"Yes, you are! You're my star! Let's see," she read the letter again. "The interview is scheduled in two weeks. We'll have to visit the studio before that. Ah, my little boy is going to be on TV!"

Izuku swallowed his trepidation, trying to mentally prepare himself for the one-on-one.

Little did he know, however, that something big was soon to happen.

PLUS – ULTRA

As the dark-green haired boy walked out of the classroom, through the hallway from another boring school day, he read through a Shiketsu High pamphlet.

Although he knew that there was little chance of failing to enter U.A considering his skill level, he still wanted to keep his options wide in the event of an unforeseen circumstance.

'Top school in Eastern Asia in War-Heroism! Scholarships are dealt depending on financial capability.'

'Wow,' Kuzui muttered. 'War heroism… isn't that another word for a soldier?'

'Well,' Izuku replied. 'Japan's war reserve does answer to the government, but despite that, they still manage to achieve a lot in terms of safety compared to Internal Heroes whose jurisdiction only applies in Japan, but in return, they're allowed autonomy.'

'It is pretty grotesque, though. Battling Kaijus in the pacific, the South China sea and all those other unforeseen threats… sounds pretty cool,' Kuzui approved.

After reading through the pamphlet, Izuku stuffed it in his pocket as he

They had P.E for one, a lesson which Izuku had begun to love thanks to his muscular build making each task easier. To make it even better, they were in a swimming unit, which made it just that much easier to show off his painstakingly sculptured muscles which rivaled Katsuki's in magnitude.

Izuku tried to shake his head, trying to change his train of thought. In reality, although some personality traits from Kuzui had affected Izuku, he'd never admit that despite his new love for showing off.

The moment he got to the gate, he absently noted Bakugou sitting against the right pillar of the gate, arms crossed while carrying a scowl which he was, quite frankly, hard-pressed to reveal nowadays, owing to the violent turnaround that his personality suffered thanks to a certain pro-hero.

Izuku tried not to mind him as he passed, but the moment he took a step out, Bakugou voiced himself.

"Dagobah Municipal Beach Park. Be there by six."

After that message, which was quite obviously directed towards Izuku, Bakugou took his leave, not bothering to look at Izuku at all.

All the while, the green-haired teen stared at his rival's back as he walked away, slightly confused.

'Is this a call-out?' Kuzui mused. 'Does he want to fight or something?'

'It would seem so, but there'd be no reason for us to,' Izuku replied as he headed home.

Without much further ado, he returned to his large abode, greeting his mother and cooking himself a light snack to quell his undying hunger for protein.

After taking a shower and getting changed, he checked the time on his phone, which read half past five, he set out towards the Municipal Beach Park, not knowing what to expect.

The sun was just dipping over the horizon opposite the ocean's.

Bakugou stood there, glaring at the oncoming Izuku.

The green-haired teen scowled. 'What does he want?'

The two teens stood opposite each other, the tension rising as Bakugou glared at Izuku without talking.

Eventually, Kuzui took over.

"What do you want, Bakugou?" 'Izuku' spat. Bakugou recoiled slightly, his glare intensifying at that.

"I've had it with you!" Bakugou seethed. "You're confusing, and I don't like that! You'll tell me what happened that night, and you'll do it NOW!"

Izuku took a slight step back.

Considering the question, Izuku chose not to speak.

Bakugou laughed.

"Hahahah! You think I'm stupid, don't you, Izuku?! I know what happened!" Bakugou roared.

Izuku looked shocked. 'I-It can't be… he's bluffing'

"You think I'd just let you go like that? I've gotta settle the score!"

"Score?" The young esper was visibly perturbed. 'Perhaps… he doesn't know?'

"I've only wanted to make things right with you, Izuku… but you keep rejecting my kindness. You really do know how to make someone feel bad, dontcha, Izuku? You really know how to make someone feel like they're garbage! WELL, GUESS WHAT?! I AIN'T GARBAGE!"

Izuku swallowed. "What do you want, Bakugou?"

"I WANT TO FIGHT YOU! WHOEVER LOSES DOESN'T GO TO U.A!"

Izuku scowled. "Oh yeah? What makes you think I'll accept?"

"It's not your CHOICE!" Bakugou shouted, spittle flying from his mouth as he reared his arm backwards. "FUCKIN' DIE!"

Bakugou's fist flew forwards, releasing a gust of pressurized wind and explosion towards Izuku, who was scrambling to activate his quirk.

The force of the explosion collided with Izuku's outstretched arm, consolidating into an orb the size of a snow-globe.

"That's 1.69 gigajoules. That's really amazing, Bakugou," Izuku admitted earnestly. "Although… that's not enough to take me. I'm stronger, now. There's no way you'll defeat me with something so small," Izuku murmured.

Bakugou didn't listen. Instead, he prepared for a sprint. Izuku began to take a hold of them nearby sand, prepared to throw it all on Bakugou.

Bakugou didn't even hesitate to dash towards Izuku with tremendous speed, throwing the young esper off by a mile.

Izuku's perception of time increased as everything slowed down. The blond bastard was thirty yards in front of him just two seconds prior, and now he's almost three. 'What the hell? Wasn't there supposed to be an explosion propelling him forwards? Did he dash here using sheer strength? That's impossible, his quirk is 'explosion'…'

'TOO SLOW, DEKU!' Kuzui took the controls, using the nearby sand to erect a sturdy wall, keeping it in place using his quirk.

'Damn!' Izuku thought as Bakugou's exploding fist made contact with the wall of sand. The explosion shook the structure, but Izuku kept it in place all the same. 'This wall is about two thousand kilograms, right?'

Bakugou jumped back as he reared himself for another punch, this time using twenty percent of One for All.

Izuku gave up on the sand wall as he used his quirk to lift himself back, effectively flying about twenty meters behind, increasing distance between him and the crazed youth.

'He isn't supposed to have increased strength… this isn't possible, it makes no sense, it's-'

'Focus, Deku!'

Izuku shook his head, closing his eyes as he sent a mental command to activate his energy-voyance. Since the beginning of his journey, the skill had increased to a radius of 50 meters, which was also the extent of which he could affect objects.

He picked up on a single, ardent energy signature ahead which dashing towards him in unbelievable speeds. Thinking quickly, he began to affect the surrounding air with kinetic energy, mentally commanding the force of the wind to be towards Bakugou.

To his annoyance, the gust of wind that hit Bakugou was simply a one-shot, like a single bullet. Izuku frantically began to apply kinetic energy to a horizontal column of air facing Bakugou, releasing it, pleased as Bakugou halted for a longer period of time.

Thus, he rinse-repeated, commanding long horizontal pillars of air to crash towards Bakugou, making a new one to replace the old one until Izuku created an air-current which did the job for him as he continued to blow Bakugou back.

The gale-force wind hurled itself towards Bakugou, slowing him down considerably as he now struggled to fight the on-coming gust.

Izuku continued the barrage, increasing the intensity. Eventually, Bakugou was incapable of keeping the traction that he had on the ground, now lifting off ever so slightly.

Izuku swallowed as he commanded the wind to go upwards along with Bakugou.

He did an internal check, pleased to see that he had only used about 2.5 gigajoules. He began to up the intensity, increasing the speed of the air flow as Bakugou began to take off considerably until he was about fifty meters in the air, at the very edge of Izuku's area of effect.

He let go.

He wasn't done there, however. As Bakugou made his way towards the sandy earth, Izuku 'grabbed' a hold of all of the energy present in his little 50-meter radius orb and began to pull in the energy present in the upper hemisphere of said orb.

The air became cooler as all the thermal energy of the air focused itself in front of Izuku, who contentrated the energy present in the air into an orb, compacting it before grabbing it and internalizing the energy.

As Bakugou made his descent, he reared his fist back before throwing it, exploding the ground and dampening his fall.

Bakugou made it down safely, but couldn't suppress a slight shiver as he felt the cold nip in the air.

"Give up, Bakugou!" Izuku shouted. "You can't win against me. We're natural enemies!"

Bakugou spat at that. "Make me!"

Just as Bakugou prepared himself, Izuku made a waving motion, as though he was swatting a fly.

He dashed towards Izuku again, speeding unbelievably as he readied for an explosive fist directed towards the boy. Izuku stood still, waiting for the impact to hit him.

In the last second, a well-placed compacted gust of wind shot Bakugou's hand out of its trajectory, instead landing right next to his head. Just as the explosion was igniting, Izuku forcibly repressed it into an orb.

Bakugou, wide-open as he was, had the misfortune of having a punch planted on his stomach, causing him to stagger backwards. Izuku, taking advantage of Bakugou's unpreparedness, palm-slammed his chest again, this time pushing kinetic energy into his body, launching him tens of meters away, hacking loudly.

"You've managed to control the sound of your explosions. That's how you move so fast without me noticing it!" Izuku yelled.

"You didn't have to use gestures when you shot my fist out of the way…" Bakugou growled.

Little did they know that they were both wrong about each other's assumptions. While Bakugou was using One For All, Izuku had timed the gust of air prior to the attack landing when he waved his hand seemingly pointlessly.

Izuku continued to sap as much energy as he could from the air, expelling the excess energy somewhere into the sand.

Bakugou closed the distance in a flash, preparing to launch an explosion point blank. Izuku cupped the exploding hand, absorbing the energy. The blond teen snorted before unleashing a barrage of explosion at Izuku, who would intercept each blow with an open palm, his muscles working on overdrive in order to follow the sheer speed that his mind was processing.

Bakugou grew tired eventually, jumping back a few meters in order to catch his breath. The green-haired teen used this as a chance to manifest the energy of all those explosions into floating marbles which he pushed towards Bakugou's general direction.

Bakugou tried jumping back, but was too slow as the marbles exploded with his own fury reflected to their creator, launching him tens of meters backwards, rolling in the sand before regaining his bearings skillfully in a three-point landing, still glaring at the green-haired teen.

Izuku used his quirk to lift up sand from the ground, infusing energy into them to the point where they began to turn into glass.

The blond teen saw this, and he quickly reared his arm back in preparation for a punch.

Izuku weighed one glass 'bullet'. 'Hmm… five grams. If I launch this at 300 meters per second, on account of conversion inefficiency, it would cost 45,000 joules… though it could kill him. I think 100 meters per second would suffice."

There were five glass bullets. Four for his arms, and one to his knee. That would finish the fight.

'The temperature is definitely sub-zero… he can't possibly sweat in this kind of environment.'

Although it might have seemed like a lot of time might have passed, between the calculation, the aiming and feeling the air, a second had passed.

"Release!"

Izuku launched the five glass bullets towards Bakugou who was almost taken by surprise. The bullets had reached halfway, however, before a strong punch blew air towards the bullets, slowing them down enough for him to take cover, letting the bullets fly past him as he dodged.

Without giving him time to wonder, Bakugou dashed towards Izuku again. His right fist inched closer and closer towards the green-haired teen, who had predicted it already. With almost practiced ease, he rotated using his right leg as a pivot, using the momentum of the spin to grab hold of Bakugou's right arm, throwing him over himself, expecting Bakugou to land heavily on his back.

Last split second, Bakugou instead used his vastly superior strength to get to his feet, and copying Izuku's maneuver by throwing him…

…Launching him into the air.

Izuku was shocked.

'That wasn't an explosion. What the hell is this? This isn't natural strength, either… could it be?'

'By the way it's lookin',' Kuzui muttered. 'Our 'friend' has been holding out on us.' Kuzui's tone sounded bored, but he was obviously repressing a violent urge to kill.

Enraged as he was, Izuku flooded the outline of his body with kinetic energy, keeping himself afloat as he regained his bearings. He was about thirty meters in the air. An impossible throw for anyone without a quirk.

"Bakugou, are you that arrogant?" Both Izuku and Kuzui fused their speech. Izuku and Kuzui were already beginning to fuse, his eye-color visibly changing. "Although I'm ashamed to say that I've known you for eleven years, you never struck me as the type to hold back against anyone. Have you always been holding back?"

Fusion was here.

Bakugou glowered at the opposition. "None of your fucking business…"

"I'm confused… By your own admission, your quirk turns your sweat into nitroglycerine which can be detonated at will. I find no rational explanation that such a quirk can increase your strength to this level…"

Bakugou didn't say anything as he looked up.

"Have you noticed the cold in the air, Bakugou?" Fusion asked. Bakugou still said nothing. "Well," He began to scowl, frowning furiously. "You can't sweat now, can you? You weren't supposed to be able to use your quirk, but what disgusts me the most is your audacity," Fusion spat.

"WHAT?!" Bakugou finally shouted. "Audacity?! Because I wanted to make peace with you?! We're too far gone for that, now!"

"No, you scumbag!" Fusion's voice got a tinge of deadliness. "That time… in the hospital ward. You asked me why I hadn't told you about my quirk manifesting. You seemed… so indignant! Like it was your business! I didn't know what to feel at the time, but now I do. You hold me in such low regard, Bakugou, and I hate that. I truly hate you, you know that?"

Bakugou was brimming with anger.

Fusion raised his hands in the air, making the surrounding atmosphere freezing cold. The thermal energy, plus more collected overhead as Fusion prepared for an attack that would end this pointless squabble once and for all.

"I HATE YOU!" Fusion shouted. Both Izuku and Kuzui meant this. This was a pure representation of both of their wishes, and that synergy made the attack even stronger.

Fusion directed the beach-ball-sized orb of energy towards Bakugou who reared his fist back in order to take the attack head-on. "240 Gigajoules of pure energy!"

Bakugou became frantic as he dug into his pocket, finding a glass-vial. He crushed it in his hand, releasing the wet substance as it coated on his hand. Bakugou went all out.

"TSAR BOMBA!"

"Comparing your own explosions to that? How arrogant!" Fusion growled.

The moment Bakugou's fist came into contact with the orb, it unleashed its fury…

Madly enough, Bakugou's fist alone was enough to combat it as a huge column of explosion was making its way through Fusion's '240 gigajoules'.

The struggle continued for a few more seconds before Bakugou's blast prevailed. The 240 gigajoule explosion had a hole torn through it because of the beam of concentrated explosion, and Fusion was its target.

He pointed his palm towards the monstrous column of explosion, siphoning as much as he could through one arm, and using another pointed at the sky to expel the rest.

Bakugou glared at Fusion's attempt. The explosion had revitalized the air with heat which was just what the blond needed for another explosion.

"TSAR BOMBA!"

And for the rest of the fight, Bakugou sacrificed both his arms.

Fusion could barely make due with one Tsar Bomba, leave alone two. The redirection of energy was too inefficient, so Fusion used his 'exhaust' hand to instead absorb more energy from the twin blasts of Tsar Bomba.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Fusion raged as he took in as much of the energy as he could. In the end, Fusion was literally glowing.

Despite what most anime characters would say about absorbing overwhelming power, it was nothing like what it was made out to be. It was overwhelming for a reason. Nauseating almost. He felt almost brittle, like one wrong movement could crack his bones.

Fusion was lowering himself to the ground as he manifested the energy he absorbed, directing it to the sky as the explosion continued upwards before eventually dissipating.

Fusion began to split into its two ingredients.

'Kuzui! What's wrong?!' Izuku thought for a moment as he felt for the presence of his mutation.

'I'm… rest… quirk…'

Just like that, Kuzui went dark, and along with him, his quirk. Izuku stared at the ground, terrified before looking up to see his opponent, his arms marred with burns, and joints bending to unnatural angles.

Izuku looked at Bakugou, who looked at him.

Bakugou dashed towards Izuku again, this time not using whatever quirks he was in possession of. Izuku did the same.

He was going to win this, quirk or no quirk.

In the last second, Bakugou activated his strength-quirk on his legs, roundhouse kicking the unprepared Izuku's shoulder making him fall into the sand.

He tried getting back up before finding that he was unable to. His right-shoulder, arm and ribs were cracked.

Bakugou stood before Izuku's ailing body, eyeing him with utter distaste.

Izuku ignored the pain and got back up to fight again.

Bakugou was staring into Izuku's very soul as he ran towards Izuku again. Izuku dodged the kick, getting close enough in to grab Bakugou by his right arm.

The sensation was mushy.

Izuku let go in a heart-beat after hearing Bakugou's pained wince. Bakugou stared at Izuku with utter shock.

"DON'T GO EASY ON ME, YOU LITTLE FUCKMUNCH!"

Bakugou kneed Izuku in his stomach, winding him. He then used his stunned state to kick him on his broken right shoulder again, this time causing unbearable pain on the green-haired teen. "I don't go easy on people, alright?! Don't go easy on me, neither, unless you want to die!"

'Go easy? Not attacking injuries is going easy? Fine, I'll show him!'

Izuku got up again. He couldn't, wouldn't lose.

He channeled the full strength of all the months of body-building into his left arm, swinging for a punch to end it all as he ran towards the broken Bakugou.

Bakugou wasn't going to dodge. This was going to be a head-on challenge

'There's no turning back… once I do this… once I do this… can I truly be the kind of hero… that I dreamed of being…?' Izuku thought to himself.

Bakugou prepared to kick, but at the split second before Izuku was throwing the punch, he feinted, instead going for Bakugou's arm, holding it in a twist-hold, eliciting screams of anguish. Izuku stepped in and headbutted his childhood bully, sending him sprawling down the sand, his arms completely mutilated.

Izuku looked at the downed bully for almost a minute, waiting for him to get up.

"Just gonna give up like that?" Izuku asked. "You... you know… you deserve worse, Bakugou…"

With that, he hobbled back home. He stopped after a few steps, hearing a grunt.

"What was that?" Izuku asked.

"Why are you calling me Bakugou…? Are we that… unfamiliar?"

"Just because you've stopped calling me Deku doesn't mean we're friends, Bakugou," Izuku added the last part to spite him.

"You… you confuse me, Izuku… you make some good points about me being the asshole… but I've gotta ask… you're an asshole too, right?"

Izuku thought. From the confession that he made to his class, to denying Bakugou's kindness, renouncing ties with him by referring to him as his last name, he really was cold. Kuzui had been behind that, but there must have been a time when Izuku did something wrong before its manifestation.

'Kuzui was behind that… but I still can't blame him for every wrong thing I've done,' Izuku realized as he thought back to when he was willing to die to obtain any quirk.

He was willing to let his mother alone in this world. To abandon her. All for his selfish desire.

"We're both assholes. Though I might be the bigger one," Izuku muttered. The sky was darkening considerably. Izuku looked back to face Bakugou. "You can enroll into U.A if you want, because I'm not going there. I'm heading someplace else!"

Bakugou was confused. "Don't fuck with me, Izuku. Are you pitying me?"

"No…" Izuku murmured before projecting himself. "No! You can have U.A! I don't think I'm cut out for Internal Heroism…"

Bakugou growled, not knowing what to say as Izuku began to walk away again.

"Wait, young Midoriya!" A voice sounded from behind Izuku, who was absolutely shocked. "My, my, you look absolutely horrible!"

Izuku didn't know what to say. "I, I- I did- I didn't- He called me out!" Izuku sputtered. All Might began to laugh heartily as he dashed towards Bakugou's bruised form, picking him up in a fireman carry.

"I'm taking young Bakugou to be healed. Can't have him return with two broken arms, can we? Want to join?" All Might offered.

"No, I'm f-AAH!" Izuku finally felt the full brunt of his wounds, the adrenaline rush finally having worn off. He fell on his knees as he clutched his right shoulder.

"I'll go with a 'yes'," All Might effortlessly picked Izuku up, carefully not to strain his injured right side.

"Now, young Midoriya… I hope that you can both put behind your hatred… if no forgiveness can be achieved, at the very least I hope your minds are at ease."

Bakugou said nothing, and neither did Izuku. All Might crouched before jumping, casting one final glance at the scarred beach. 'I'll have Bakugou clean that up one of these fine days…'

PLUS – ULTRA

All Might stood in the hallway of U.A, outside of the infirmary where he had left both the two boys.

"I hope they've settled the score…" He thought. He then reminisced at the fight that he was witnessing. He wanted to chide his protégé because of his recklessness, having fought in a public beach using highly-destructive quirks.

"Though… I suppose, what with Bakugou's ill temper, I should have predicted such an outcome… well, that other boy sure is strong… he managed to overcome Bakugou's most powerful attack twice… This Midoriya sure is a surprise."

PLUS - ULTRA

Returning back home, Izuku felt both sullen and energized. His mother, who had given him a fairly wide berth ever since the incident, wasn't present to see Izuku return home with singed clothes, much to his advantage.

He returned to his room, laying on his bed as he soaked in the silence.

He rubbed his face numbly as his eyes began to close.

'No regrets...' Izuku thought in his head. 'I don't even want to go there... it won't ever be a school that I can call mine...'

He raised his hand, aiming his fist towards the ceiling as he steeled his expression.

'It's his hero academia... not mine... but that's alright... I'l be a war hero. In terms of the amount of people rescued, that's even better.'

* * *

A/N: He has made his intentions clear!

Also, he beat Bakugou without his quirk. Pretty poetic, eh? Eh? EH? **EH?**

Well, please review. I like it when you do. I'll try to reply to every reviewer. Thank you.


	10. Chapter 9 - Tirade

"Midoriya Izuku… I like you!" Yoshihara Mari was confessing to Izuku for the fourteenth time behind the school.

"I'm sorry, Yoshihara-san… I don't have any feelings for you is all," Izuku smiled as he tried to back away.

"Come on, Izuku-chan! What's wrong with me? What do I have to do to make you like me?" She asked, stepping closer and closer to Izuku.

"I-I don't know!" Izuku said as he tried to back away from her.

"What's your type, Izuku?" Mari asked.

"I don't know!" Izuku replied, backing further away. Suddenly, his stomach rumbled, causing the awkwardness of the situation to escalate.

"Are you hungry? I still have some ramen left in my lunchbox," she said as she took her backpack off and rummaged through it, looking for it.

"That's not necessary, Yoshihara-san," Izuku said, waving off her concern with a timid smile. "Besides, I only eat protein-rich food, so I might disrupt my diet if I eat that…" Izuku said the last part almost under his breath, not expecting her to catch on, but if her wide eyes were of any indication, she did.

"Are you a body-builder or something?" She asked, curiously as she skipped towards the green-haired teen, tapping on his stomach before he could react. "Wow, solid!" She exclaimed. "Can I see?"

"Most certainly not!" Izuku flushed as he prepared to leave.

'You're no fun, Deku! You built this awesome body ripping your muscles to shreds all the time, and now that you're ripped, you don't want to show off? Let _me_ handle this,' Kuzui said as he prepared to take control, much to Izuku's absolute rejection.

'NO!' Izuku ground out firmly.

"Aww, you're no fun," said both Mari and Kuzui at the same time, much to Izuku's momentary confusion.

Izuku turned around to leave before Mari called him out again. "Aren't you going to ask what I see in you?"

"Not interested," Izuku said as he continued to walk.

"What about the other one? What do you call him…Kuzui?"

The green-haired teen stopped.

Mari smirked at him.

"Good bye!" She said as she took off, or she would have, if it wasn't for Izuku who instinctively froze her shoes to the ground. Izuku walked back to her still form and began asking her questions.

"H-"

"How did I know?" Mari asked. "My quirk allows me to read minds. You seem to have two. That's really interesting. Is it the spirit of your still-born twin brother? Has it always been like this? Or… are you just crazy?" She asked.

Izuku didn't know how to handle the situation. For one, she held a secret which he really didn't want to go public. He also couldn't just kill her, though that did cross Kuzui's mind. For now, he should just follow her demands.

"What do you want? Is it money?" The teen asked with no small amount of anger.

"No…" She said, solemnly. "Look… I really like you… you're really cool. What couldn't I see in you?" She asked. Izuku snorted.

"I've been getting that a lot."

"No, really… I know the… other one also had a hand in what you said that day, but that was still really cool. You've been bullied by your class for so long, and once they finally got around to accept you, you rejected them and got them all to fear you… I just thought… that was really cool, you know? Look, I'm not gonna spill your secret or anything, whether you date me or not. I just want you to know that I understand you." She looked at him with big eyes. The teenaged boy was stunned by the praise.

"…Good bye, Mari-san," Izuku said, releasing his hold over her and walking away. Mari stood there, gazing at the back of the boy who rejected her.

"He called me by my given name."

PLUS – ULTRA

Izuku looked himself in the mirror, admiring his figure. With only his underwear on, he was able to assess every inch of his body, and he liked what he saw.

Height-wise, he had only grown within an expected, if not slightly accelerated rate, considering his working out. Figure-wise, there was nary even a layer of fat to obstruct his sinewy, aesthetic muscles. His abs were cut like diamonds, with even a fourth pair visible above his pelvis. His pecs had also gone through a transformation, and he still couldn't forget the few days were he could barely move his arms, having to rely on the kinetic portion of his quirk for everyday purposes.

His arms were nothing to sneeze at either. His shoulders seemed to have gotten wider by at least an inch on both sides, but even then, they weren't glaring, but a nice balance between utility and aestheticism.

He looked to his left, on his bed. His suit was laid across. A pearl-white shirt and a black suit vest, suit jacket with golden cuff links and pants and a dark green tie.

Izuku wore the ensemble and admired himself once more in the mirror, appreciating how the suit hugged his figure, but not so much that it was tight. It gave him a respectable air, and only then did he notice the sheer contrast of how he viewed himself versus how he did the same exact thing only several months ago.

It had been three months since he had received his quirk, and only two weeks since he battled Bakugou Katsuki. Izuku wasn't proud of what happened at the beach. He couldn't. He crossed an ethical boundary which disqualified him from ever being able to feel like a hero.

His path was something much less noble, but all the more necessary.

A war hero.

From downstairs, he could hear his mother calling his name. "Izuku! Are you ready?"

Pulling his tie tighter, Izuku flashed a smile on the mirror and admired himself one last time. "Coming down!"

As he descended his staircase, his phone rung and Izuku had to stifle a groan. He didn't even have to look at who called, just answering the phone.

"Yes, Yamaichi-san?" Izuku rolled his eyes.

 _"You are doing your community a huge disfavor! If you don't represent us in the class action suit, your esteemed former neighbours will never be able to claim the full amount due!"_

Izuku rubbed his face.

'Let me handle this,' Kuzui intoned, and Izuku couldn't help but smile. 'All yours!'

Izuku's expression shifted into that of a bloodthirsty attourney. "Alright, listen. I'm done dealing with you. Insurance already reimbursed everyone, and the block had already compensated all the tenants. A class action suit at this point is an act of supreme greed-"

 _"What they were paid will never equal the damage to their-"_

"I didn't finish talking!" Kuzui roared into the cellphone. "It's an act of greed, and miss me with that shit! I'm not touching your shitfest of a Judicial S and M bachelor party with a ten mile pole. Do not call me again. I won't budge on this."

Yamaichi sighed before hanging up, and Izuku couldn't help but smile. "Already two weeks into our life-changing decision and our ethics are still being put to the test."

Izuku stuffed his phone into his pocket and once he finished descending the stairs, he beheld his mother, wearing a dark-green short dress with a black purse.

"You look so handsome, son!" Inko gushed, hugging her son who hugged back.

"Alright now," Inko stepped back from the hug. "Let's get going, shall we?"

Right outside, on the driveway, a limousine provided by Hana TV waited. The chauffeur stood next to an open door and smiled at them genially. Inko entered first, and then Izuku.

Inside, an agent waited. She was beautiful, dressed in a short work dress, a clipboard tucked in her arms and a pen resting on her ear.

"Good evening, Midoriyas. My name is Nijima Haru." She smiled. Both Midoriyas nodded. "A rundown for tonight's schedule is as follows. Five minutes of your introduction, then a segment of your achievements so far lasting for another five minutes, and finally, the meat of the whole interview. Basically, Mizuha-Chan, you know her, the interviewer, will be picking your brain based on various different topics. This will go on for about forty-five minutes. Please don't worry about it if you're not that talkative. Mizuha-Chan will make it work. I swear, that woman's quirk must be making people super-comfortable!"

Izuku nodded. "What are the questions?"

Haru wagged her index finger. "That's a surprise. We at Hana TV like to keep our interviews 150% authentic, meaning no talking points and regurgitated arguments. We want honest opinions coming from major personalities such as yourself, and towards that end, we'll try not to give you much time to consider our questions."

Izuku nodded. "Journalistic integrity. I can get behind that," he smiled.

"As expected of a budding hero!" Haru smiled. A table rose between Haru and the Midoriyas, revealing a multitude of different alcohols and appetizers such as breadsticks, cheeseballs and things Izuku couldn't even name. "Enjoy yourselves."

Both Midoriyas distanced themselves from the bottles of wine and enjoyed some of the appetizers provided, chatting excitedly between each other.

The limousine, after half an hour, pulled over into the parking space of the TV Studio, and the Midoriyas were escorted into the building and through the winding hallways until they were lead through a door.

Behind the rows of seats where spectators sat was a carpeted ground with a mahogany desk and a revolving chair behind the desk. Adjacent to the desk was a one-man couch with a sleek design oozing of corporate modernism.

Behind the desk, on the revolving chair was Ikebana Mizuha, the host of the Hana TV Interview Hour, applying some make-up with her team. The moment she spotted Izuku, she waved at him, grinning genially.

Izuku hugged his mother once more before approaching Mizuha. The spectators spotted Izuku and began to whisper among themselves excitedly.

"Please, have a seat!" Mizuha said. Izuku nodded and took the couch next to the desk. "Make-up?" Mizuha offered playfully. Izuku waved his hand.

"No thanks," Izuku chuckled.

"Now, we're going to be on air in about a minute. Full disclosure, it's a live feed, so be careful to not utter any profanity. We're on prime-time after all! And don't be afraid to drop some hard-to-swallow truths. While the audience dig platitudes, we could go for someone more original. Think you can do that? Be original?"

Izuku nodded. "Original. I can do that."

"Great," Mizuha nodded. "There'll be one commercial break approaching the middle of the interview, and I'm sure Haru-chan filled you in on the other deets."

Izuku nodded. "Haru-ch-uh-san, no wait, Nijima-san did inform me about the layout of the interview." Mizuha could only laugh at Izuku's blatant slip-up.

"Make sure not to choke like that while we're on air. Oh, but it's fine if you still do. It's beyond adorable!"

"We're on in five," the camera man announced. Mizuha's make-up team finally dispersed after laying on the finishing touches. "Four, three, two…"

Mizuha spun around her revolving chair before slamming her hands down on her desk, glaring ominously at the camera. "The world is full of dangers…" The light in the room was dim, with only a single spotlight trained at Mizuha.

Smoke filled the room, causing Izuku to raise both eyebrows. "Villains, earthquakes, tsunamis and fires. While the lauded heroes of our world do their best to protect us, some of us do slip through the gaps between the fingers of Heroism's large clutch. But even then, we can still be saved. By the likes of someone very special…"

The smoke cleared, and Mizuha grinned widely. "Today, we have an exceptionally special guest with us! He is the hero that saved all the tenants in an apartment fire that occurred three months ago in the Orudera area! You know him as the Orudera Spirit Of Fire Boy! Welcoming Midoriya Izuku!"

The smoke finally cleared and Mizuha gestured at Izuku sitting awkwardly on the couch, his feet still shrouded in smoke.

"Thank you for having me, Ikebana-san," Izuku bowed his head.

Mizuha nodded. "Please call me Mizuha. I'm not my mother, after all! I'm only eighteen!" The crowd of spectators behind the cameras began to laugh.

Izuku raised an eyebrow before murmuring: "I highly doubt that."

"So, Izuku-san, did you know that you are the most elusive celebrity in Japan at the moment?"

"Really?" Izuku asked. Mizuha nodded.

"So far, people only know your name, your school and where you live, but that can't be all that there is to you? Tell us, Izuku. Who are you?"

Izuku was completely blank.

'Fuck this, I'm taking over.'

Before Izuku could resist the sudden possession, his mouth began to move. "That's an awfully philosophical question, isn't it? Who are any of us, really, when it all comes down to it?"

A few chuckles came out of the crowd at that. Mizuha nodded her head.

"What really interests you? What do you usually do with your time and what kind of hero do you wish to be in the future? And finally, and here's the real cherry on top, tell us what your quirk does!"

Izuku regained possession and thought for a second before beginning.

"If I were to tell you, promise you won't sleep." The crowd laughed wildly at that. Mizuha raised an eyebrow in challenge.

"You're the nerdy kind, huh, Izuku-san?"

Izuku nodded. "Guilty as charged."

Mizuha smirked. "I won't sleep so go ahead. Tell me."

"Hero analysis," Izuku took a deep breath before spilling the beans. "Really, all I've ever loved to do since I was a child was analyzing heroes and their quirks. Everything from visiting recent hero/villain clash sites to gather forensic data to determine how powerful a hero or villain's attack power stands at to memorizing All Might quotes as though his every word is my personal bible, because they _are._ "

Mizuha nodded excitedly. "Already so eager to delve into heroics, are you?"

Izuku nodded. "Since my quirk activated really late, and there was a trigger related to it which I never thought to use, I grew up nominally quirkless."

A good explanation, and one that wasn't so far-fetched. Izuku had been able to successfully use that excuse to explain to the Quirk Registry Office and his peers why the onset of his quirk was late, by explaining that it was always there, but he had no way to activate it.

Mizuha raised an eyebrow in confusion. "A trigger related to your quirk? Can't say that isn't an uncommon tale, isn't it? Many people go their whole lives thinking they are quirkless because they haven't met the right prerequisites. People who can manipulate seawater, but grow up in a landlocked country or blind people whose quirk is x-ray vision. You are quite lucky that you found your trigger at this time, being able to enroll in a hero course, now."

Izuku smiled. "That's the plan."

"Now that we've established that Izuku-chan is the cutest nerd in the history of the entire _world_ , let's take a small walk down memory lane, shall we?"

On the desk was a drawer with a clicker, which Mizuha removed and pressed a button. The light in the room fell and a large tv screen behind them showed a phone camera video of a burning building.

Izuku ran into the apartment, and then the clip skipped to Izuku running out of the building with 17 people in air bubbles, and that was around the point where he fell unconscious.

But the video didn't lie. Even when unconscious, Izuku directed his palms at the building and sucked in all the fire, extinguishing the apartment block, allowing firemen to enter, but only then was he able to fall on the ground, now truly unconscious.

Izuku's mind was blown. "I can't believe I did that after falling unconscious…"

Mizuha's eyes widened. "You were unconscious?"

"I can't remember anything after leaving the apartment building."

"Regardless, your actions not only saved the seventeen tenants you carried outside, but an additional fifty six tenants that were still inside! All by yourself at that!"

Izuku sucked in a breath. He never really watched the video passed the point where he passed out, always thinking that was the end of it, even if the video still had a minute more of content. He wasn't particularly vain, either, to analyze a video of himself that closely, but that was quite the mistake in retrospect.

"Now, for the moment of truth. What is your quirk?"

Izuku opened his palm, and a glowing orb shot out of it, hovering over the palm of his hand. "This here is a ball of thermal energy. It can be repurposed into kinetic energy, and back again. I can store it in my body or I can push it out and cause an explosion. I can absorb more energy from other sources as shown in the video, and I can release the same amount of energy. Dynakinesis, or the ability to manipulate energy is the scientific term for it, but I gave it a pet name. Esper."

At the last word, the crowd began to 'whoo' softly.

Mizuha gape, forming an 'o' with her mouth. "That sounds incredibly badass!"

Izuku scratched the nape of his neck sheepishly. "Oh, wow, I really thought I'd get laughed at for saying that."

"That's an amazing quirk! Perfect for Rescue Heroism and possibly even Combat Heroism!"

Izuku nodded. "I guess that's true."

But that wasn't his path.

"But then, those bubbles you made…"

"I applied kinetic energy to air and had it surround the people I was saving. There was a fire so there wasn't a shortage of energy for me to use."

A risky move on Izuku's part. Spilling the beans of how his quirk worked in a TV interview was bound to land him some trouble in the future, but that didn't matter. It wasn't about keeping a low profile and taking the enemy by surprise.

It was something much more subtle. All Might did it all the time, Endeavor, well, _endeavored_ to achieve the same effect, and every other hero could only imitate him.

Creating a symbol. If everyone knew about him, he was no longer just a human, but an image of what they wanted him to be.

If Bakugou was the symbol of Japanese Peace, then Izuku was sure to be Japan's Flaming Sword that could protect the nation from any external threat.

"Rescure Hero, Combat Hero, Infiltration Hero, there are so many ways to use your power!" Mizuha gushed. "But there's only one path for you! Tell me. What hero are you going to become?"

Izuku steeled his resolve before speaking. "Every Hero should be like All Might. Selfless, merciful, gracious and unyielding. Every Hero should embody these qualities, and being a hero should never be something motivated by something as trivial as fame or money to be spent on pointless pursuits of hedonism."

The crowd was silent, but Izuku continued.

"A Hero should be like All Might, and I am not like him."

The crowd gasped, and his mother shook her head in denial, but Izuku disregarded it.

"I'm not completely selfless, or merciful for that matter. I'm somewhat gracious, but I am unyielding. I can't be a hero in the traditional sense of the word, but I can be of use, still, even with my bastardized moral value set."

The crowd, the audience at home, and even Mizuha was listening raptly.

"With this quirk, I can be of use, but I will not tarnish the Hero Association more than it already is. I am planning on joining Shiketsu High School, and my ambition is to become a War Hero, effectively a soldier for the Imperial Japanese Army."

Another bout of gasps struck the room, and even Mizuha widened her eyes in surprise.

"War Heroism?" She asked. "Wow, that's… wow. Surely, you know how… deadly a vocation it is, right?"

Izuku grinned. "I am fully aware, but I don't really care how dangerous it is. I've always wanted to become a hero, and that's how close I'm going to get while still retaining respect for myself. Unlike some, and I should not name names, I have a conscience." Izuku grinned wickedly.

The crowd laughed, and Mizuha chuckled somewhat uneasily.

"Well, I have faith that you'll be able to weather anything that comes your way. You'll still be protecting everyone that's living in our country, and you deserve all kinds of praise, Izuku-san!"

Izuku waved his hand dismissively. "It's the least I can do, living in this country after all."

The interview continued as Mizuha asked questions about his favorite heroes, playing clips about them on the screen, and playing some games like 'guess the Quirk-type' where a random ability would show up and Izuku would dissect it with his perception.

Finally, Mizuha asked a question which really gave Izuku pause. Surprisingly, or not, it was a personal question.

"What did your friends think about the sudden arrival of your quirk?" Mizuha asked, and Izuku was about to answer before realizing one fatal fact.

He had no friends. Moreover, the people who were supposed to be his friends became completely fake.

Taking a deep breath, Izuku decided to be honest.

"Just when I got my quirk, I wasn't really that familiar with my classmates," Izuku replied. Vague enough to suggest that he does have friends, but didn't perhaps because of a move or whatever. Izuku prayed that she wouldn't pry, but Mizuha's journalistic streak surged full force.

"Oh, so you moved in recently, or…?"

'It's time to drop some truth,' Kuzui voiced. 'Let me handle this. You've done well, but it's time to say what you're actually thinking.'

Mizuha, not receiving a reply, pressed harder. "How did people treat you after you received your quirk?"

'Trust me.'

'No cussing?' Izuku asked.

'Wouldn't dream of it,' Kuzui replied, smirking. Izuku squinted, and Kuzui resurfaced.

With an annoyed frown, Izuku crossed one leg and opened up.

"Full disclosure, then?" Kuzui asked. Mizuha nodded, slightly concerned.

Just as Izuku opened his mouth, Mizuha held up a hand. "We'll return to the interview after these messages. Everybody give it up for Midoriya Izuku!"

An applause rang and Mizuha scooted her revolving chair closely to Izuku. "Hey, Izuku-chan. I just want you to know that you have an opportunity. You have a platform all to yourself where you can say whatever you want, and you must use this opportunity."

Izuku nodded. "I will."

"Don't be afraid to say anything. Whatever you say, remember that those people deserve the shaming."

Izuku nodded. At this point, it became predictable that Izuku would talk about getting bullied like every major personality has experienced in their lifetime.

His mother was there in the front row of the audience seats waving at him. Izuku waved back, flashing a smile.

After a few minutes, Mizuha smiled at the camera. "We are back for the Hana TV Interview with Midoriya Izuku!"

A round of applause rang, and Izuku began from where he left off after a short pause.

"Your turn, Izuku-san," Mizuha smiled.

"Alright," Kuzui continued. "First, let's establish how people treated me prior to my quirk awakening. I was a punching bag. I was a tool, and I had no friends. That's right, I had 0 friends that could congratulate me or whatever. All I had were, and here's the kicker, bullies. See, the thing about being among the 20% of the Quirkless population in a world where four out of five people can kill you without even trying is that you become a target."

The crowd gasped, and Mizuha's eyes widened. There was a hunger in her eyes, and Kuzui was determined to s ate it.

"I could go on and on about platitudes, spewing clichés like 'kids can be cruel' or whatever, but I will respect my audience enough to know that they already know that. What I do want all my 'fans' or whatever you call yourselves to take in is that if I didn't have a quirk, you would be fine treating me like a second-class citizen without even batting an eyelid. Truthfully, I've stayed up for nights wondering if anyone of you deserve me. I've been treated like a sack of garbage by my class for a good ten years, and that wouldn't have changed if I didn't find my Quirk."

Izuku then grinned. "But as I thought about it all, that if anyone else was in my position, they would leave the world to suffer, I began to realize one simple truth, and it made me feel great. I am not other people. I am myself, and I shouldn't measure my capacity to do good on school bullies. I am better than that."

"But yeah," Izuku waved his hand dismissively. "You wanted to know how my class treated me once I got my quirk. After a long period of suicidal thoughts prior to my quirk manifesting, I was treated ambivalently because none of my classmates were murderers, just mean-spirited. When I finally found my quirk and after I saved my mother, they seemed to love me. Even my biggest bully wanted to make friends after I showed him that I wasn't just a quirkless 'idiot' as he would like to have it."

Another pregnant pause rang loudly, and Izuku left it at that for a few more seconds before continuing.

"I want every single one of you watching this interview to stop being mean to people for no reason. Stop being such a bad person just because someone is different from you! Stop bullying the quirkless kid because he can't protect his country, even though he really wants to. He's already killing himself, knowing that he can't do anything, but when you add the stress of bullying, he might really _kill_ himself! You have no idea what your words do to the people that are offended by them. You have no idea, so unless you want the blood of an innocent teenager in your hands, stop it!"

Mizuha paused for a moment. "Wow… you have no idea how powerful that was."

Izuku remained silent. "It had to be said."

"I'm really sorry, but we're running out of time. This has been Midoriya Izuku, future War Hero and activist! Good night, Japan!"

The crowd didn't clap. They were still stunned. Izuku looked up to find his mother, also stunned, tears threatening to gush out of her eyes.

Once the cameras stopped rolling, Izuku approached her first.

"Why didn't you tell me you felt this way?"

Izuku sighed. "I didn't want to worry you."

"Worry me?!" Inko shouted. "Why should that matter when you are feeling this way?! You've never worried me even once in your life, and now you were afraid to share what you felt inside?! Why would you do this to yourself?!" She hugged him closely, and Izuku's eyes began to mist as well.

There was a big lump in Izuku's throat, making it difficult for him to say something, but Izuku didn't want to remain quiet. "I'm sorry…"

"I've failed you! I was too far removed from you to see what bothered you, but this…"

An errand boy approached the Midoriyas. "You were invited for an executive dinner by the Hana TV Board."

Inko shook her head at him. "We're just going home, now."

Izuku followed her wordlessly to the Limo that was still waiting for them.

Inko's sadness had settled into a righteous anger. "Give me their names, Izuku."

Izuku sighed. He had taken a step back to view the issue on both perspectives, and he knew how his mother was feeling. She was killing herself over not being able to do anything. She feels completely powerless, just like Izuku used to feel, but on an even more depressing level.

Inko wanted names so she could comfort herself over the fact that she is doing something. It was the least Izuku could do after risking Inko's eternal sorrow by going through the Quirk operation.

"Yubi Arako, Tsubasa Sakurai and… Bakugou Katsuki."

Inko actually gasped at the last one. "K-Kacchan?"

Izuku almost felt like lashing out at hearing that disgusting pet name. "We stopped being friends years ago. Truth is… I haven't had a real friend since nursery, and ever since he developed his quirk, I've been an outcast."

Izuku paused for a moment before smiling. "But I always knew I could find love in you, mom. I love you for always having been there for me. You did enough, and I cannot begrudge you at all for what you've done until now. Please…" Izuku's tears finally began to fall. "Don't cry for my sake."

Inko dragged him into a full-on hug, and none of them let go for an indeterminate amount of time. Izuku relished the warmth and love that her mother provided while Inko burned with the passion of a scorned mother. She wasn't done. Not by a long shot.


	11. Chapter 10 - Love

Chapter 10 – Love

* * *

Izuku was still planning on dismantling the villainous organization. That much, he was still certain of. In his bedroom, he burnt the papers of the dumber plans, creating new ones on the fly.

'Dismantling' was… a tricky thing to do. If he was a hero, he could be making government-sanctioned arrests, and he could provide his testimony in a court of law.

Killing them, although simple, was not an option. A small part of him wondered why the idea didn't repulse him as much as it did, but it was his intention that mattered. And he did _not_ intend to kill _anyone_ , _ever_.

Of course, in times like these, his mind flashed back to his chosen future-career. Being a war hero, despite their rather _epic_ targets, still resulted in human deaths from time to time. Orders from above would invariably lead to someone getting killed by Izuku's hands. Insubordination was also just as much a non-option as extrajudicial killing.

But if the killing was completely legal… again, Izuku entertained the thought of killing a man, and the feeling of horror and revulsion did not follow. All that bothered him was implications of his own psyche, and whether it tied together with this strange 'Fusion'. If he was gradually losing his ability to feel remorse.

 _'You're one crazy motherfucker, Izuku! You're becoming just like me. A Sociopath!_

He remembered what Kuzui had said to him all those months ago. He never sat down to properly dissect the statement.

A sociopath; a colloquial term for someone who suffers from Antisocial Personality Disorder, likely due to environmental factors such as upbringing. After some preliminary research, he found that it generally boiled down to a lack of a full emotional spectrum, specifically the parts that made sure that a human being remained an effective social animal.

A lack of remorse was a telling factor. Another was a lack of sadness. To a certain extent, sentiment was also lost. It was an unfortunate combination.

More research determined that the physical factor contributing to this disorder was an atrophied ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

Hypothesis number one; Kuzui's personality is largely disconnected from this particular region of their brain. Further fusion would result in Kuzui becoming more remorseful.

That didn't account for Izuku's lack of repulsion for killing.

Hypothesis number two; As Kuzui's personality fuses with his own, this region of the brain shrinks.

It was alarming. _Very_ alarming. For one, it meant that if they ever fully fused, if Kuzui ever just… disappeared, and the remaining personality became an amalgam.

Was that what this 'Fusion' entity was? A glimpse into the future?

Izuku remembered the entity's cold calculation. If given the inexorable option to kill, he wouldn't hesitate. Not for a fraction of a second.

Izuku swallowed. He wouldn't do anything untoward. For one, 'Fusion' was driven by principle, not emotion. It wasn't a bad thing, intrinsically. It would make him more effective for his future line of work.

But was it worth it?

An emotional part of him, the part of him that just wanted to make the world a better place, said yes.

In the end, it was a question of placing his trust in Japan as a nation-state. He did.

Pinning the subject of his gradual apathy aside, he continued to consider the organization, the topic on the table.

A large part of him still felt some shame that he was willing to stoop so low in a moment of pure desperation. That part of him was much stronger than his past self.

Izuku sighed. It seemed that principle _did_ come with strength, but it was good. It meant that Izuku would do anything to see to it that the organization's research did not see the light of day, or if anything, would go directly to the Hero association for further, _safer_ , research.

On his desk, Izuku scribbled plans, scowled in dissatisfaction and burnt the paper before starting over again and again.

One thing he still had was Johnny's number. A preliminary background check on him netted some… disturbing facts. The boy was a gangster, that much was certain, but he was _very_ effective in what he did, almost scarily so, and had a reputation around these parts as 'The Billman', having made a name for himself already.

It wasn't quite _legal_ , but Izuku had no real leg to stand on when it came to policing someone else's legality. His success was reached by scaling a pile of bones.

Regardless, it happened. He had a quirk. He needed to make the best of it, and of his situation.

Izuku stood up from his desk, burnt the current plan and went downstairs to the home gym.

After his gruelling quirk-induced exercise had provided its dividends, Izuku had begun to lift in a more traditional manner, only to maintain his current musculature. His practice into enforcing his own body had provided little beyond creating an easily disruptible field that could absorb or deflect damage.

After an hour of different exercises, Izuku felt that he had collected enough of his thoughts to sleep soundly.

It wasn't until he almost slept when he realized that Kuzui had said nothing for the past six hours.

'You there?' He thought.

'Ain't going nowhere, you know,' he said with thinly hidden derision.

Izuku smiled. It was… reassuring to still have him with him. It showed that he was still human

[37% to Fusion]

And unbeknownst to him, that humanity was slipping more than he knew.

PLUS - ULTRA

"Please go out with me," Mari asked again for the Nth time. It was at the end of the day, and he had just been intercepted by her in the hallways, all for her to publicly confess like that.

Izuku annoyedly dragged her all the way to an empty classroom where they'd have more privacy.

"Whoa!"

'Why don't you say yes?' Kuzui asked.

"Yeah, Izuku-chan. Why _don't_ you say yes?" Mari asked.

"Because you keep doing that!" Izuku snapped. "You can't read peoples' minds without their consent. It's not polite, and it's a criminal offense."

"You don't like me doing that?" Mari asked.

"Of course I don't," Izuku replied angrily. "I'm entitled to privacy. You being able to read my mind kind of negates that."

"That's how we communicate at home, though," Mari fidgeted. "My Mom can read people's intentions and my dad can induce foreign emotions. I can read minds. We end up not really talking at all. Plus…" she smiled.

'I can do this, too."

Izuku heard her voice inside his head.

He blinked twice, completely dumbfounded. "I would like for you to _never_ do that again. Ever."

She looked almost struck. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I just thought you'd understand my situation."

Izuku sighed. 'Am I being the bad guy right now?'

'Kinda,' Kuzui replied.

Izuku looked at Mari flatly. "Did you hear that?"

She shook her head. "You told me to stop."

"Good. Alright, I'm sorry for reacting badly. There's a reason why telepaths are literally barred from entering most interpersonal lines of work, and why there are such stringent contingencies to prevent telepaths from gaining the upper hand in society."

"Which is why most of them become either high-level government officials or low-level villains," she surmised. "That's why the government doesn't know." She smiled.

Izuku's brows furrowed. "And you told me?"

"You're a good guy, Izuku," she smiled. "Really good. I almost don't think you deserve someone like me, but I'm willing to continue shooting my shot until I score. I don't want to give you up."

Izuku's heart delayed for a moment as he heard her words. It felt more sincere than her previous confessions, and for once, Izuku really considered her as a woman than as a nuisance.

Would it really be that bad…?

"Fine," Izuku conceded. "I've been unfair to you. Where do you want us to go?"

"Really?" She beamed. "I know this really great pancake place we could go to!"

"Really?" He asked. "Pancakes? It's not very healthy."

"Don't be such a worrywart, Izuku-chan. Pancakes are harmless. Or if you'd like, we could go to this meat-eater burger-place that just opened up downtown."

The idea appealed to Izuku. He liked meat.

Izuku checked his wallet. Ever since the apartment fire, he didn't have any shortage of money on hand, but it helped to check.

"I'll have enough for both of us," he announced. "You want to go now?" He asked.

"Yes!" She howled in delight before dragging him out of the classroom, through the hallways where everyone watched.

PLUS – ULTRA

A group of girls from their school had just reached the door to the diner when Izuku entered alongside Mari.

It was Karin and a couple of her friends. The moment Izuku and Karin made eye-contact, the latter grew tense while the former watched with an air of derision.

He still remembered how he had gone to her with valid evidence of bullying, asking for disciplinary measures only for Karin to dismiss him.

'Bakugou-san is going to U.A High School, the only one in our class that could ever possibly get in. Do you really want to ruin his prospects just like that?'

Kuzui recited the memory in a rather poor imitation, but the words were true and the feelings were there. Karin had most likely been crushing on Bakugou.

It was disgusting.

Karin looked away after a bit of split-second eye-contact scuffling, and Izuku continued onwards as Karin dragged her friends elsewhere.

"Nice powerplay," Mari observed before hugging him out of the blue. "You're _really_ cool."

Izuku blushed furiously. "Uhm, thanks," he tried to peel himself away from her hug as they approached a booth where they could eat.

After they ordered their food, a triple-burger, fries and a cola for Izuku, and a double-burger, fries and onion rings with an orange soda for Mari, she struck up a conversation.

"I saw your interview."

Izuku face-palmed slightly. "It was sort of edgy, right?"

"Definitely," she smiled. "But I like edgy."

Izuku sighed. "I mean, uh, I said what was on my mind, but I'll be more remembered for the bullied kid than a hero, now."

"You're still a hero," Mari insisted. "The internet seems to think so, but more importantly?" She reached for his hand. " _I_ know you're a hero."

Izuku smiled warmly. "You really believe that?"

"You're selfless-"

"I'm not," he interrupted.

"You're _selfless_ , whether you know it or not, everything you do is in service to others. You indulge in short-term benefits, yeah, but the goal of your life still is for the net benefit of everyone. I really appreciate that."

"That's a sugar-coated way to put it," he murmured.

"What can I say?" She smiled sweetly. "I _love_ sugar."

"What are your goals for the future?" He asked. "Hero?"

"Hah, imagine that," she smiled before whispering. "The mind-reading hero, Mari."

"You could still work as a foreign diplomacy negotiator. Japan hasn't signed the Benefit-Of-Doubt treaty, along with the other six world powers. They'd _love_ to have you."

It was corrupt, Izuku had to admit, but there weren't many places for mind-readers, and any place in which Japan could gain the upper hand, they would capitalize.

"I don't like being considered a resource," Mari sighed. "I wish I was quirkless," she admitted.

"No, you don't," Izuku replied with an unintentional amount of harshness.

Mari's eyes widened before she groaned in regret. "Crap, Izuku-chan, I didn't mean to-"

"It's not easy being without powers," he continued. "Several months ago, I would have done many things to be in your position. Cherish what you have, Mari. I don't want you to feel the way I felt."

Mari seemed to consider his words before she nodded.

"And It's fine," Izuku added. "No harm done."

"You're really cute when you get all passionate," Mari smiled. "I like it."

Izuku blushed. 'Dammit' he thought.

'Dammit, indeed'

000

"I am… stuffed," Mari moaned.

Izuku patted his stomach once, nodding. "That was a _lot_ of calories."

Mari grinned at him. He narrowed his eyes. "What is it?"

"I'm trying to phrase it, actually," she giggled. "Uhm, give me a second."

Izuku smiled crookedly. "Are you going to make fun of me?"

She waved her hands avertingly. "No, not at all!" She laughed. "Just the contrary! It's… uh, a lot of people our age are considering the future, right?"

Izuku nodded.

"Well, imagine we're following a track to our goals. Everything you do in favour of that goal is a step forward on that track. The thing about us kids is that we don't… _always_ advance in our track. We take a step out to unwind, to catch up with life."

"Where… are you going with this?" Izuku smiled curiously.

"You're different," Mari concluded. "Your goal _and_ your life; it's all in that track. Even when it _looks_ like you're taking a break from the track, you _don't_."

Izuku frowned pensively. "That sounds… awfully untrue. I _do_ take breaks."

His mind flashed to the organization that granted him his quirk, his plans to either _oust_ them or just destroy all their research…

"But you never quit thinking about the goal, you never do anything that either halts or negates your progress. You take breaks, but unbeknownst to you, you _still_ advance. All the time."

Izuku chuckled before turning serious. "You.. aren't-"

"No!" She exclaimed. "Uh, not _this_ time either. I'm… just really good at cold-reading people. Sorry, was I creepy?"

"You meant well," Izuku smiled again.

"I did," she replied.

Izuku felt warm.

The warmness was accompanied by a foreboding sensation. This wouldn't last.

His warmness was going to disappear eventually. He wouldn't ever be able to feel like this.

Maybe this was why he took Mari up on her offer?

Izuku gave her his hand. "I want to show you something."

Mari was too bewildered to lay in a quip, staring at his hand in utter awe. In another moment, she took it. Out of the establishment they went, and in another moment, they _flew_.

It was simple. He had a lot of energy saved up, and Mari was much lighter than he was. They broke the first cloud cover and headed eastwards. The sun was slowly approaching the horizon.

Izuku was too focused, but if he had looked down at the girl in his arms, he would have seen sheer awe, and the beginning of tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

They descended from the cloud cover, landing on a tall sky-scraper in the middle of Tokyo proper.

He laid her down gently, all while watching the vista.

"You brought us to Tokyo?" Mari sputtered. "That's _amazing_!"

Izuku smirked. "And a little illegal," he shrugged. "Public display of quirks is a felony, after all."

"So is jaywalking," she rolled her eyes. "Nobody ever really _cares_."

"Shouldn't you? This doesn't seem very conducive to my goal, is it?"

Mari looked at him and frowned. "You did all this just to prove me wrong?" Her frown gradually turned into a sweet smile. "You're a sweetheart."

Izuku frowned as his cheeks reddened. He looked away in order to prevent her from seeing his blush, but a glimpse of his future reminded him that these were the days he was supposed to cherish.

"I brought you here, actually… because I feel big."

Mari chortled. "You can't have eaten _that_ much."

Izuku smiled. "It's just… whenever I walk into school, or any building for that matter, I feel like I'm greater than I actually am. I went from being a _nobody_ to being strong enough to put out a whole apartment block fire. Any building I walk into, there's a firm knowledge that I could just as easily demolish it as I would be standing still for a minute or so."

Next to him, Mari stood, listening.

Inexplicably, she hugged him.

Izuku wanted to pry her off, but the intense warmness in his chest prevented him from doing that. He wanted the moment to last longer.

Channelling his inner courage, he hugged her back. She seemed to melt into his grasp, and for a while, they remained still, just hugging.

Mari pulled back, and Izuku bit back a grunt of protest. She looked up at him, tears evident in the corner of her eyes.

"I may have said it so many times before," Mari whispered. "But I want you to know; I really like you, Izuku Midoriya."

"I…" Izuku smiled.

"Don't say anything," Mari whispered. "There's another portion to my quirk other than transmitting words. Can… can I _show_ you how I feel?"

There was a momentary silence,

"Yes," Izuku finally acquiesced.

Mari smiled.

Izuku _felt_. More than he had ever _felt_ before.

He felt _loved_ , more than anything else. Amused, fond, but the pink, bordering on red hue of love pervaded every corner of his mind.

He understood what Mari felt for him, what lengths she would go to make him happy and what it would take to make her stop loving him.

Unbidden, Izuku leaned in and their lips connected.

By all means, Izuku should have felt awkward, but as he sustained the contact, Mari slacked in his grasp and kissed back.

The sun had just set when Izuku pulled back slowly.

"I don't have much time left," Izuku admitted.

"What-"

"My powers," Izuku said. "They're taking away my ability to feel. I want to say this when I am able; I… _really_ like you. I don't think I even deserve you, but… I still want you in my life."

"What are you saying?" Mari stepped back, eyebrows furrowed in anguish. "Your powers?"

"I… won't be able to feel soon."

Mari didn't speak. She _thought_ and Izuku heard.

'You're serious?'

Considering the circumstance, Izuku didn't mind what she had done.

"I want… to show you what happened to me. Can you see if I try?" He asked.

Mari nodded. "If you'd like."

"I'd like," he said. "I really would."

Mari concentrated for a short moment before nodding. "Do it."

Izuku revealed his life-story, or at least a summarized version which defined his present self. His alienation and bullying, his depression and near-death at the hands of the organization, the mechanics of his powers and how it was slowly eating him away.

"That's… me," Izuku finally said. "I'm not all that glamorous," he admitted. "I was weak and desperate, did something I regretted doing. For all I'm planning to rectify my mistakes, they still happened. I'm not a good person."

Mari took a while to respond. It was an agonizing duration of time.

"I don't care," she finally said. "I still love you. I still want to be with you… while you're still you. For me, at least, this doesn't change anything."

Izuku smiled, drying away some errant tears. "I'm glad, Mari. I really am."

A wave of foreign happiness washed over Izuku, and he knew that she, too, was happy.

PLUS - ULTRA

Izuku returned home in a daze. Ringing his doorbell, he was surprised to see his mother, waiting just by the door.

"Oh, you're home!" She smiled.

She was like that, these days, ever since the interview concluded. She had gone from school to school, promoting an anti-bullying campaign in almost every school in the prefecture, and being his mother had given her that extra validity to give her words weight.

That, and it came with the added bonus of her being hyper-worried about him. Izuku could feel the love, however.

"Mom?" Izuku smiled.

His mother's eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement before resolving into an awestruck look, her mouth opening wide.

"You went on a _date_?!"

Before he could answer, she shrieked in joy before enveloping him in a hug. "My Izuku's all grown up! Dinner's ready, young man, and you are going to tell me _everything_."

He'd try to tell her as much as possible.

PLUS – ULTRA

Mari had taken another route to her home, one not quite direct, but convenient for her meeting.

She sat on the bench of a bus stop, both waiting for her bus and engaging in a conversation with a rather tall and lanky man wearing sunglasses who leaned against a pole.

"I told you repeated confessions gets a guy's heart all soft."

She frowned, but focused on his brain. Just as she opened her mouth, he spoke.

"Don't do that, young lady. Wouldn't want you to know something you're not supposed to."

She smiled wickedly. "I always wanted to know how a short-term prescience and a mind-reader did conversation."

"Easy," he smiled. "You read what I'm about to say, make a counter-argument before I speak, using rapid-fire tactics to wear me down."

She smiled.

"Then again, the future-teller sees it all coming and shuts it down before it happens."

She frowned.

"Then," she retorted. "You wouldn't really _need_ these debriefings, would you?"

"Everything you're about to say is right here," he tapped his head. "This is for the record."

"Izuku Midoriya, age fifteen, is a driven teenager bent on joining one of Japan's most exclusive High Schools for War-Heroism. He's talented and-"

"Cut the crap," he said. "Tell us; with your ability to read and transmit emotions to someone who is emotionally invested in you, is he planning on opposing our little troupe?"

This was the part that Mari had to work hard on. Kouma's precognition made it so that he could test out multiple different approaches to wringing out the truth, within ten minutes, of course. Mari had to decide _there_ and then, barring any and all environmental factors, what her answer would be.

Torture was temporary. He wouldn't go through with it. He'd leave it in that hypothetical future, and she'd be unharmed. It was about having the spirit to resist it.

"Midoriya Izuku remains loyal."

Four words, repeated in her brain incessantly, ad infinitum. No amount of pain could-

"I'm surprised," Kouma smiled easily. "I didn't think Midoriya loved us like that. Huh, good to know."

He bought it. Great.

"You've been a good spy, Mari-chan," Kouma smiled at her. "Your payment for the month has been deposited."

Mari considered dropping the bomb that Izuku's power was detrimental to his psyche. If they were cautious during one of his weekly power-testings, he'd reveal it himself.

No, the issue had to be raised.

"His power isn't safe."

Kouma frowned. "Elaborate."

"Induced psychopathy."

"Not the worst, as far as our bad cases go," he shrugged. "We'll be sure to investigate next time he comes. We'll be subtle, so don't worry."

She didn't. If there was anything she could do for him, it was to give him the emotions he was losing, anything more permanent than the ephemeral bursts of foreign emotion that was a fraction of what her father could do.

Her father could make serial killers pet bunnies and build schools for the rest of his life. It had a permanent effect on the human psyche, another reason why two-thirds of their family were listed as 'Quirkless'.

If there was a way…

She looked at Kouma. Yes. There was a way.

"Kouma-san," she said softly.

"What?"

"Quirks are hereditary, right?"

"Guess who paid attention to first-grade bio," he said sardonically.

"I want my father's quirk."

He looked at her and lowered his sunglasses. "You're serious.

"I'd like to participate in an experiment."

Kouma frowned. "I'll have to run this through Doru, but sure. Mistress should know as well. With the way Midoriya remains loyal, your role in his life shouldn't matter as much."

She nodded. "Good. Just get it done."

'After all', she thought 'Izuku needs me'.

* * *

I have exactly 14 students in class 1-A. Yup. Thought there was at _least_ 20, but it's actually 14.

I'll need six more student OCs to make future Shiketsu chapters a thing. If you want to submit an OC, make sure not to have submitted one to this story before. I like some fresh faces.

Make sure your OC isn't overly edgy and tragic. I'm honestly tired of them. Make sure that their power is at least interesting and not overpowered.

For example, I received an OC that literally had Storm (X-men)'s weather-controlling power. Barring the fact that she's literally one of the strongest mutants on Earth in Marvel, her power just didn't seem all that fun to write, so I decided for the OC's power to instead be to 'produce a cloud (size depends on prior training of her quirk) and the cloud can simulate every conceivable type of weather within the area which it covers.'

One guy literally listed his OC's quirk as 'Quirkless, I suppose, since he has Albion's Sacred Gear within him'

No. Just.. fucking, what? For obvious reasons, I don't have to explain why adding a literally world-breaking power into the story is a stupid fucking idea, or the fact that the power is based on a completely foreign magic system that doesn't even exist in this universe.

I changed it to reducing someone's fighting capabilities with every punch successfully dealt, and that lost fighting capability directly transferred to the user. No quirk-borrowing either. Just pure hand-to-hand because it makes sense, it's more fun to write, and frankly: it's more fun to read.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm ranting, but when someone submits their Mary-Sue-type OC expecting to be given the limelight because of their OC's overbearing strength, I can't help but get irritable.

Uhm, yeah, that's all I want. Balanced abilities. If you have a Quirk but no idea for an OC, that's fine, too.

Alright, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


End file.
